X,  4 


THIS    EDITION,   PRINTED    ON    JAPANESE    VELLUM    PAPER 

IS    LIMITED    TO 
ONE   THOUSAND    NUMBERED    COPIES 

779 

NO.J 


j^lrmotrs 


THE   ROYAL  FAMILY   OF   FRANCE 


VOLUME  I 


•/S-JOSF.i  -H-A-.-l 1'IER-FRANCOIS 
LOUIS  XVII,  KL\G  OF  FRANCE 


From  a  painting  in  the  Pi  tit  Trianon,  by  Vigcc  Lebnm 


Courts  of 


THE   ROYAL 

FAMILY  OF    FRANCE 

DURING  THE   REVOLUTION 
FROM  THE  JOURNAL  AND   LETTERS 

OF   THE 

PRINCESS   LAMBALLE 
VOL.  I 

JFUustratelr 


PHILADELPHIA 
GEORGE   BARRIE   &   SON       PUBLISHERS 


CONTENTS    TO    VOL. 


CHAPTER  I 

PACK 

Journal  commenced — Empress  Maria  Theresa,  mother  of 
Maria  Antoinette  —  Her  political  views  in  all  the 
marriages  of  her  daughters — Fate  of  the  Arch-duchess 
Josepha — On  the  death  of  Josepha,  the  Arch-duchess 
Carolina  weds  the  King  of  Naples — Maria  Theresa's 
remonstrance  with  the  Court  of  Naples  on  her  daughter's 
treatment — The  daughter  remonstrates  more  promptly 
and  effectually — Maria  Antoinette  destined  for  France — 
Madame  Pompadour — French  hatred  to  Austria — 
Vermond  recommended  by  Brienne  as  Maria 
Antoinette's  tutor — He  becomes  a  tool  of  Austria — 
Limited  education  of  Maria  Antoinette — Her  fondness 
for  balls  and  private  plays — Metastasio — Du  Barry — 
Observations  of  the  Editor  on  Maria  Theresa's  sacrifice 
of  her  daughters  to  her  policy  ......  26 

CHAPTER  II 

Editor's  remarks  on  erroneous  statements  of  Madame 
Campan — Journal  resumed — Dauphin  on  his  wedding- 
night  and  the  next  morning — Court  intrigues  begin — 
Daughters  of  Louis  XV. — Their  influence  on  the 
Dauphin,  and  dislike  of  his  young  bride — Maria 
Antoinette's  distaste  for  etiquette,  and  love  of 
simplicity — Court  taste  for  hoop-dresses  accounted  for 
— Madame  de  Noailles — Her  horror  at  not  having 
been  summoned  on  an  occasion  of  delicacy — Duke  de 


viii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Vauguyon  takes  a  dislike  to  Maria  Antoinette — Cabal 
between  Vermond  and  Madame  Marsan — Du  Barry 
jealous  of  the  Dauphiness — Richelieu — Three  ladies 
leave  the  supper-table  of  Louis  XV.  from  Du  Barry 
being  there — Remonstrance  of  the  Dauphiness  to  her 
mother  on  being  made  to  sup  with  Du  Barry — 
Answer — Count  d'Artois  and  Monsieur  return  from 
travelling — Are  charmed  with  Maria  Antoinette — 
Scandal  respecting  d'Artois  and  the  Dauphiness 
— Changes  wrought  by  Court  marriages — Remonstrance 
of  Maria  Theresa  to  the  French  Court — Duchess  de 
Grammont — Louis  XV.  intrigues  to  divorce  the  Dauphin 
and  marry  the  Dauphiness — Diamond  necklace  first 
ordered  by  Louis  XV.  as  a  present  to  his  hoped-for 
bride  —  Dauphin  complains  of  the  distance  of  his 
apartment  from  that  of  his  wife — All  parties  intrigue 
to  get  Maria  Antoinette  sent  back  to  Austria  .  .  .42 

CHAPTER    III 

Journal  continued — Maria  Theresa — Cardinal  de  Rohan — 
Empress  induced  by  him  to  send  spies  to  France — Maria 
Antoinette  dislikes  meddling  with  politics — Deep  game 
of  De  Rohan — Spies  sent  to  France,  unknown  to  the 
Cardinal,  to  discover  how  far  his  representations  are  to 
be  trusted — She  finds  he  has  deceived  her,  and  resents 
it — He  falls  in  love  with  Maria  Antoinette — Betrays 
her  to  her  mother — Indignation  of  Maria  Antoinette 
on  the  occasion — He  suggests  the  marriage  of  Maria 
Antoinette's  sister  with  Louis  XV. — His  double  intrigues 
with  the  two  Courts  of  France  and  Austria — Louis  XV. 
dies — Rohan  disgraced •  .  74 

CHAPTER  IV 

Journal  continued — Accession  of  Louis  XVI.  and  Maria 
Antoinette  —  Happy  beginning— Public  joy  —  The  new 


CONTENTS  IX 

PAGE 

King  more  affectionate  to  his  Queen — Du  Barry  and 
party  no  longer  received  at  Court — Unsuccessful  attempt 
of  the  Queen  to  restore  Choiseul  to  the  ministry — 
Insinuations  against  the  Queen — Vermond  and  the 
King — The  Queen's  modesty  respecting  her  toilette — 
Mademoiselle  Bertin,  the  milliner,  introduced — Anecdote 
of  the  royal  hairdresser — False  charge  of  extravagance 
against  the  Queen — Remarks  of  the  Editor  .  ,  .  94 

CHAPTER   V 

Notes  of  the  Editor — Family  of  the  Princess  Lamballe — 
Journal  resumed  —  Her  own  account  of  herself — Duke 
and  Duchess  de  Penthievre — Mademoiselle  de  Pen- 
thievre and  Prince  Lamballe — King  of  Sardinia — 
Ingenious  and  romantic  anecdotes  of  the  Princess 
Lamballe's  marriage — The  Duke  de  Chartres,  afterwards 
Orleans,  marries  Mademoiselle  de  Penthievre — De 
Chartres  makes  approaches  to  the  Princess  Lamballe — 
Being  scorned,  corrupts  her  husband — Prince  Lamballe 
dies — Sledge  parties — The  Princess  becomes  acquainted 
with  the  Queen — Is  made  Her  Majesty's  superintendent  1 1 1 

CHAPTER   VI 

Observations  of  the  Editor  on  the  various  parties  against 
Lamballe  in  consequence  of  her  appointment — Its  injury 
to  the  Queen — Particulars  of  Lamballe,  the  duties  of 
her  office,  and  her  conduct  in  it  —  The  Polignacs — 
Character  of  the  Countess  Diana — Journal  resumed, — 
Account  of  the  first  introduction  to  the  Queen  of  the 
Duchess  Julia  de  Polignac — The  Queen's  sudden  and 
violent  attachment  to  her — Calumnies  resulting  from 
it — Remark  on  female  friendships — Lamballe  recedes 
from  the  Queen's  intimacy — At  the  Duke's  (her  father- 
in-law)  is  near  falling  a  victim  to  poison — Alarm  of  the 
Queen,  who  goes  to  her,  and  forces  her  back  to  Court — 


X  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Her  Majesty  annoyed  at  Lamballe's  not  visiting  the 
Polignacs — Her  reasons — The  Abb6  Vermond  retires, 
and  returns 133 

CHAPTER   VII 

Journal  continued — Slanders  against  the  Empress  Maria 
Theresa,  on  account  of  Metastasio,  give  the  Queen  a 
distaste  for  patronising  literature — Private  plays  and 
acting — Censoriousness  of  those  who  were  excluded 
from  them — The  Queen's  love  of  music — Gluck  invited 
from  Germany — Anecdotes  of  Gluck  and  his  Armida — 
Garat — Viotti — Madame  St.  Huberti — Vestris.  .  .  158 

CHAPTER   VIII 

Journal  continued — Emperor  Joseph  comes  to  France- 
Injurious  reports  of  immense  sums  of  money  given  him 
from  the  treasury — Princess  Lamballe  presented  to  him 
— Anecdotes  told  by  him  of  his  family  —  The  King 
annoyed  by  his  freedoms — Circumstances  that  occurred 
while  he  was  seeking  information  among  the  common 
people — Note  of  the  Editor  on  certain  mistakes  of 
Madame  Campan 168 

CHAPTER    IX 

Journal  continued — Pleasure  of  hearing  of  the  birth  of 
children — The  Queen's  exultation  at  finding  herself 
pregnant — Favourable  change  in  the  public  sentiment 
— The  King's  aunts  annoyed  at  the  Queen's  Jprosperity 
— Her  pregnancy  ascribed  by  Du  Barry  to  d'Artois — 
Lamballe  interferes  to  prevent  a  private  meeting  between 
the  Queen  and  Baron  Besenval — Coolness  in  conse- 
quence— The  interview  granted,  and  the  result  as  feared 
— The  Queen  sensible  of  her  error — The  Polignacs — 
Night  promenades  on  the  Terrace  at  Versailles  and  at 
Trianon — Queen's  remark  on  hearing  of  Du  Barry's 


CONTENTS  XI 

PAGE 

intrigue  against  her — Princess  Lamballe  declines  going 
to  the  evening  promenades  —  Vermond  strengthens 
Maria  Antoinette's  hatred  of  etiquette — Her  goodness 
of  heart — Droll  anecdote  of  the  Chevalier  d'Eon  .  .  184 

CHAPTER    X 

Observations  of  the  Editor — Journal  continued — Birth  of 
the  Duchess  d'Angouleme — Maria  Antoinette  delivered 
of  a  Dauphin — Increasing  influence  of  the  Duchess  de 
Polignac — The  Abb6  Vermond  heads  an  intrigue  against 
it — Polignac  made  governess  of  the  royal  children — 
Her  splendour  and  increasing  unpopularity  —  Envy 
and  resentment  of  the  nobility — Birth  of  the  Duke  of 
Normandy — The  Queen  accomplishes  the  marriage  of 
the  Duchess  de  Polignac's  daughter  with  the  Duke  de 
Guiche — Cabals  of  the  Court  —  Maria  Antoinette's 
partiality  for  the  English  —  Libels  on  the  Queen — 
Private  commissions  to  suppress  them — Motives  of  the 
Duke  de  Lauzun  for  joining  the  calumniators — Droll 
conversation  between  Maria  Antoinette,  Lady  Spencer, 
the  Duke  of  Dorset,  &c.,  at  Versailles  —  Interesting 
visit  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  the  North  (afterwards  the 
Emperor  Paul)  and  his  Duchess  —  Maria  Antoinette's 
disgust  at  the  King  of  Sweden  —  Audacity  of  the 
Cardinal  de  Rohan  ........  203 

CHAPTER    XI 

Editor's  observations,  and  recapitulation  of  the  leading 
particulars  of  the  diamond  necklace  plot  —  Journal 
resumed  —  Princess  Lamballe's  remarks  on  that  dark 
transaction — Vergennes  opposes  judicial  investigation—- 
The Queen's  party  prevail  in  bringing  the  affair  before 
the  council  —  Groundlessness  of  the  charge  against 
Maria  Antoinette — Confusion  of  Rohan  when  confronted 
with  the  Queen — He  procures  the  destruction  of  all  the 


xii  CONTENTS 

PACK 

letters  of  the  other  conspirators— Means  resorted  to  by 
Rohan's  friends  to  obtain  his  acquittal — The  Princess 
Cond6  expends  large  sums  for  that  purpose — Her  con- 
fusion when  the  proofs  of  her  bribery  are  exhibited — 
The  King's  impartiality — Mr.  Sheridan  discovers  the 
treachery  of  M.  de  Calonne — Calonne's  abject  behaviour, 
dismissal,  and  disgrace — Note  of  the  Editor  .  .  .  238 

CHAPTER    XII 

Journal  continued — Archbishop  of  Sens  made  minister, 
dismissed,  and  his  effigy  burned — The  Queen  impru- 
dently patronises  his  relations — Mobs — Dangerous  un- 
reserve of  the  Queen — Apology  for  the  Archbishop  of 
Sens — The  Queen  forced  to  take  a  part  in  the  govern- 
ment— Meeting  of  the  States  General  —  Anonymous 
letter  to  the  Princess  Lamballe — Significant  visit  of  the 
Duchess  of  Orleans — Disastrous  procession — Barnave 
gives  his  opinion  of  public  affairs  to  the  Princess 
Lamballe,  who  communicates  with  the  Queen — Briberies 
by  Orleans  on  the  day  of  the  procession — He  faints  in 
the  Assembly — Neckar  suspected  of  an  understanding 
with  him — Is  dismissed — No  communication  on  public 
business  with  the  Queen  but  through  the  Princess 
Lamballe — Political  influence  falsely  ascribed  to  the 
Duchess  de  Polignac  —  Her  unpopularity — Duke  of 
Harcourt  and  the  First  Dauphin — Death  of  the  First 
Dauphin  —  Cause  of  Harcourt's  harsh  treatment  of 
Polignac  —  Second  interview  of  Barnave  with  the 
Princess  Lamballe  —  He  solicits  an  audience  of  the 
Queen,  which  is  refused — Dialogue  between  Lamballe 
and  the  Prince  de  Conti — Remarks  on  the  Polignacs — 
Marriage  of  Figaro,  a  political  satire  •  •  •  .  270 


SECRET   MEMOIRS 

OF   THE 

ROYAL  FAMILY  OF  FRANCE 

INTRODUCTION 

1  SHOULD  consider  it  great  presumption  to 
intrude  upon  the  public  anything  respecting  my- 
self, were  there  any  other  way  of  establishing  the 
authenticity  of  the  facts  and  papers  I  am  about 
to  present.  To  the  history  of  my  own  peculiar 
situation,  amid  the  great  events  I  record,  which 
made  me  the  depositary  of  information  and  docu- 
ments so  important,  I  proceed,  therefore,  though 
reluctantly,  without  further  preamble. 

In  the  title-page  of  this  work  I  have  stated  that 
I  was  for  many  years  in  the  confidential  service  of 
the  Princess  Lamballe,  and  that  the  most  important 
materials,  which  form  my  history,  have  been  derived 


VOL.    I 


2  INTRODUCTION 

not  only  from  the  conversations,  but  the  private 
papers  of  my  lamented  patroness.  It  remains  for 
me  to  show  how  I  became  acquainted  with  Her 
Highness,  and  by  what  means  the  papers  I  allude 
to  came  into  my  possession. 

Though,  from  my  birth,  and  the  rank  of  those 
who  were  the  cause  ot  it  (had  it  not  been  from 
political  motives  kept  from  my  knowledge),  in  point 
of  interest  I  ought  to  have  been  very  independent, 
I  was  indebted  for  my  resources  in  early  life  to  His 
Grace  the  late  Duke  of  Norfolk  and  Lady  Mary 
Duncan.  By  them  1  was  placed  for  education  in 
the  Irish  Convent,  Rue  du  Bacq,  Fauxbourg  St. 
Germain,  at  Paris,  where  the  immortal  Sacchini, 
the  instructor  of  the  Queen,  gave  me  lessons  in 
music  Pleased  with  my  progress,  the  celebrated 
composer,  when  one  day  teaching  Maria  Antoi- 
nette, so  highly  over-rated  to  that  illustrious  lady 
my  infant  natural  talents  and  acquired  science  in 
his  art,  in  the  presence  of  her  very  shadow,  the 
Princess  Lamballe,  as  to  excite  in  Her  Majesty 
an  eager  desire  for  the  opportunity  of  hearing  me, 
which  the  Princess  volunteered  to  obtain  by  going 
herself  to  the  convent  next  morning  with  Sacchini. 


INTRODUCTION  3 

It  was  enjoined  upon  the  composer,  as  I  afterwards 
learned,  that  he  was  neither  to  apprise  me  who 
Her  Highness  was,  nor  to  what  motive  I  was  in- 
debted for  her  visit.  To  this  Sacchini  readily 
agreed,  adding,  after  disclosing  to  them  my  con- 
nections and  situation,  "  Your  Majesty  will  be, 
perhaps,  still  more  surprised,  when  I,  as  an 
Italian,  and  her  German  master,  who  is  a  German, 
declare  that  she  speaks  both  these  languages  like 
a  native,  though  born  in  England  ;  and  is  as  well 
disposed  to  the  Catholic  faith,  and  as  well  versed 
in  it,  as  if  she  had  been  a  member  of  that  Church 
all  her  life. 

This  last  observation  decided  my  future  good 
fortune  :  there  was  no  interest  in  the  minds  of  the 
Queen  and  Princess  paramount  to  that  ot  making 
proselytes  to  their  creed. 

The  Princess,  faithful  to  her  promise,  accom- 
panied Sacchini.  Whether  it  was  chance,  ability, 
or  good  fortune,  let  me  not  attempt  to  conjecture ; 
but  from  that  moment,  I  became  the  protege  of  this 
ever-regretted  angel.  Political  circumstances  pre- 
sently facilitated  her  introduction  of  me  to  the 
Queen.  My  combining  a  readiness  in  the  Italian 
and  German  languages,  with  my  knowledge  of 


4  INTRODUCTION 

English  and  French,  greatly  promoted  my  power 
of  being  useful  at  that  crisis,  which,  with  some 
claims  to  their  confidence  of  a  higher  order,  made 
this  august,  lamented,  injured  pair,  more  like 
mothers  to  me  than  mistresses,  till  we  were  parted 
by  their  murder. 

The  circumstances  I  have  just  mentioned  show 
that  to  mere  curiosity,  the  characteristic  passion  of 
our  sex  and  so  often  its  ruin,  I  am  to  ascribe 
the  introduction,  which  was  only  prevented  by 
events  unparalleled  in  history  from  proving  the 
most  fortunate  in  my  life  as  it  is  the  most 
cherished  in  my  recollection. 

It  will  be  seen  in  the  course  of  the  following 
pages,  how  often  I  was  employed  on  confidential 
missions,  frequently  by  myself,  and,  in  some 
instances,  as  the  attendant  of  the  Princess.  The 
nature  of  my  situation,  the  trust  reposed  in  me, 
the  commissions  with  which  I  was  honoured, 
and  the  affecting  charges  of  which  I  was  the 
bearer,  flattered  my  pride  and  determined  me  to 
make  myself  an  exception  to  the  rule  that  "  no 
woman  can  keep  a  secret."  Few  ever  knew 
exactly  where  I  was,  what  I  was  doing,  and 


INTRODUCTION 


much  less  the  importance  of  my  occupation. 
I  had  passed  from  England  to  France,  made 
two  journeys  to  Italy  and  Germany,  three  to  the 
Arch-Duchess  Maria  Christiana,  Governess  of  the 
Low  Countries,  and  returned  back  to  France, 
before  any  of  my  friends  in  England  were  aware 
of  my  retreat,  or  of  my  ever  having  accompanied 
the  Princess.  Though  my  letters  were  written 
and  dated  at  Paris,  they  were  all  forwarded  to 
England  by  way  of  Holland  or  Germany,  that 
no  clue  should  be  given  for  annoyances  from 
idle  curiosity.  It  is  to  this  discreetness,  to  this 
inviolable  secrecy,  firmness,  and  fidelity,  which  I 
so  early  in  life  displayed  to  the  august  personages 
who  stood  in  need  of  such  a  person,  that  I  owe 
the  unlimited  confidence  of  my  illustrious  bene- 
factress, through  which  I  was  furnished  with  the 
valuable  materials  I  am  now  submitting  to  the 
public. 

I  was  repeatedly  a  witness,  by  the  side  of 
the  Princess  Lamballe,  of  the  appalling  scenes 
of  the  bonnet  range,  of  murders  a  la  lantcrne,  and 
of  numberless  criminal  insults  to  the  unfortunate 
royal  family  of  Louis  XVI.,  when  the  Queen  was 


6  INTRODUCTION 

generally  selected  as  the  most  marked  victim  of 
malicious  indignity.  Having  had  the  honour  of  so 
often  beholding  this  much-injured  Queen,  and  never 
without  remarking  how  amiable  in  her  manners, 
how  condescendingly  kind  in  her  deportment  to- 
wards everyone  about  her,  how  charitably  generous, 
and  withal,  how  beautiful  she  was ;  I  looked  upon 
her  as  a  model  of  perfection.  But  when  I  found 
the  public  feeling  so  much  at  variance  with  my 
own,  the  difference  became  utterly  unaccountable. 
I  longed  for  some  explanation  of  the  mystery. 
One  day  I  was  insulted  in  the  Tuileries,  because 
I  had  alighted  from  my  horse  to  walk  there  with- 
out wearing  the  national  ribbon.  On  this  I  met 
the  Princess :  the  conversation  which  grew  out  of 
my  adventure  emboldened  me  to  question  her  on 
a  theme  to  me  inexplicable. 

"  What,"  asked  I,  "  can  it  be,  which  makes  the 
people  so  outrageous  against  the  Queen  ?  " 

Her  Highness  condescended  to  reply  in  the 
complimentary  terms  which  I  am  about  to  relate, 
but  without  answering  my  question. 

"  My  dear  friend  1  "  exclaimed  she,  "  for  from 
this  moment  I  beg  you  will  consider  me  in  that 


INTRODUCTION  7 

light, — never  having  been  blessed  with  children  of 
my  own,  I  feel  there  is  no  way  of  acquitting  myself 
of  the  obligations  you  have  heaped  upon  me,  by 
the  fidelity  with  which  you  have  executed  the 
various  commissions  entrusted  to  your  charge,  but 
by  adopting  you  as  one  of  my  own  family.  I  am 
satisfied  with  you,  yes,  highly  satisfied  with  you, 
on  the  score  of  your  religious  principles1;  and  as 
soon  as  the  troubles  subside,  and  we  have  a  little 
calm  after  them,  my  father-in-law  and  myself  will 
be  present  at  the  ceremony  of  your  confirmation." 

The  goodness  of  my  benefactress  silenced  me  : 
gratitude  would  not  allow  me  to  persevere  for  the 
moment.  But  from  what  I  had  already  seen  of 
Her  Majesty  the  Queen,  I  was  too  much  interested 
to  lose  sight  of  my  object, — not,  let  me  be  believed, 
from  idle  womanish  curiosity,  but  from  that  real, 
strong,  personal  interest  which  I,  in  common  with 
all  who  ever  had  the  honour  of  being1  in  her 
presence,  felt  for  that  much-injured,  most  engaging 
sovereign. 

i  I  was  at  that  time,  by  her  orders,  under  examination 
by  Monsieur  de  Brienne,  for  being  confirmed  to  receive 
the  sacrament. 


INTRODUCTION 

A  propitious  circumstance  unexpectedly  oc- 
curred, which  gave  me  an  opportunity,  without 
any  appearance  of  officious  earnestness,  to  renew 
the  attempt  to  gain  the  end  I  had  in  view. 

I  was  riding  in  the  carriage  with  the  Princess 
Lamballe,  when  a  lady  drove  by,  who  saluted  my 
benefactress  with  marked  attention  and  respect. 
There  was  something  in  the  manner  of  the  Princess, 
after  receiving  the  salute,  which  impelled  me,  spite 
of  myself,  to  ask  who  the  lady  was. 

"  Madame  de  Genlis,"  exclaimed  Her  Highness, 
with  a  shudder  of  disgust,  "  that  lamb's  face  with 
a  wolf's  heart,  and  a  fox's  cunning."  Or,  to  quote 
her  own  Italian  phrase  which  I  have  here  trans- 
lated, "  colla  faccia  d'agnello,  il  cuore  cCun  lupo,  e 
la  dritura  della  volpe." 

In  the  course  of  these  pages  the  cause  of 
this  strong  feeling  against  Madame  de  Genlis  will 
be  explained.  To  dwell  on  it  now  would  only 
turn  me  aside  from  my  narrative.  To  pursue  my 
story,  therefore : 

When  we  arrived  at  my  lodgings  (which  were 
then,  for  private  reasons,  at  the  Irish  Convent, 
where  Sacchini  and  other  masters  attended  to 


INTRODUCTION  g 

further  me  in  the  accomplishments  of  the  fine  arts), 
"  Sing  me  something,"  said  the  Princess,  "  Cantate 
miqualche  cosa,  for  I  never  see  that  woman"  (meaning 
Madame  de  Genlis)  "  but  I  feel  ill  and  out  of 
humour.  I  wish  it  may  not  be  the  foreboding 
of  some  great  evil  !  " 

I  sang  a  little  rondo,  in  which  Her  Highness 
and  the  Queen  always  delighted,  and  which  they 
would  never  set  me  free  without  making  me  sing, 
though  I  had  given  them  twenty  before  it.1  Her 
Highness  honoured  me  with  even  more  than  usual 
praise.  I  kissed  the  hand  which  had  so  generously 
applauded  my  infant  talents,  and  said,  "  Now,  my 
dearest  Princess,  as  you  are  so  kind  and  good- 
humoured,  tell  me  something  about  the  Queen  I  " 

She  looked  at  me  with  her  eyes  full  of  tears. 
For  an  instant  they  stood  in  their  sockets  as  if 
petrified :  and  then,  after  a  pause,  "  I  cannot," 
answered  she  in  Italian,  as  she  usually  did,  "  I 
cannot  refuse  you  anything.  Non  posso  negarti 
niente.  It  would  take  me  an  age  to  tell  you  the 

i  The  rondo  I  allude  to  was  written  by  Sarti  for  the 
celebrated  Marches!,  Lungi  da  te  ben  mio,  and  is  the  same 
in  which  he  was  so  successful  in  England,  when  he  intro- 
duced it  in  London  in  the  opera  of  Giulo  Sabino. 


10  INTRODUCTION 

many  causes  which  have  conspired  against  this 
much-injured  Queen !  I  fear  none  who  are  near 
her  person  will  escape  the  threatening  storm  that 
hovers  over  our  heads.  The  leading  causes  of  the 
clamour  against  her  have  been,  if  you  must  know, 
Nature ;  her  beauty ;  her  power  of  pleasing ;  her 
birth ;  her  rank ;  her  marriage ;  the  King  himself ; 
her  mother ;  her  imperfect  education  ;  and,  above 
all,  her  unfortunate  partialities  for  the  Abbe" 
Vermond  ;  for  the  Duchess  de  Polignac  ;  for 
myself,  perhaps ;  and  last,  but  not  least,  the 
thorough  unsuspecting  goodness  of  her  heart  ! 

•'  But,  since  you  seem  to  be  so  much  con- 
cerned for  her  exalted,  persecuted  Majesty,  you 
shall  have  a  Journal  I  myself  began  on  my  first 
coming  to  France  and  which  I  have  continued 
ever  since  I  have  been  honoured  with  the  con- 
fidence of  Her  Majesty,  in  graciously  giving  me 
that  unlooked-for  situation  at  the  head  of  her 
household,  which  honour  and  justice  prevent  my 
renouncing  under  any  difficulties,  and  which  I 
never  will  quit  bat  with  my  life !  '•' 

She  wept  as  she  spoke,  and  her  last  words 
were  almost  choked  with  sobs. 


INTRODUCTION  II 

Seeing  her  so  much  affected,  I  humbly  begged 
pardon  for  having  unintentionally  caused  her  tears, 
and  begged  permission  to  accompany  her  to  the 
Tuileries. 

"  No,"  said  she,  "  you  have  hitherto  conducted 
yourself  with  a  profound  prudence,  which  has 
insured  you  my  confidence.  Do  not  let  your 
curiosity  change  your  system.  You  shall  have  the 
Journal.  But  be  careful.  Read  it  only  by  your- 
self, and  do  not  show  it  to  anyone.  On  these 
conditions  you  shall  have  it." 

I  was  in  the  act  of  promising,  when  Her 
Highness  stopped  me. 

"  I  want  no  particular  promises.  I  have 
sufficient  proofs  of  your  adherence  to  truth.  Only 
answer  me  simply  in  the  affirmative." 

I  said  I  would  certainly  obey  her  injunctions 
most  religiously. 

She  then  left  me,  and  directed  that  I  should 
walk  in  a  particular  part  of  the  private  alleys  of 
the  Tuileries,  between  three  and  four  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon.  I  did  so;  and  from  her  own  hand 
I  there  received  her  private  Journal. 

In  the  following  September  of  this  same 
year  (1792)  she  was  murdered  1 


12  INTRODUCTION 

Journalising  copiously,  for  the  purpose  of  amas- 
sing authentic  materials  for  the  future  historian, 
was  always  a  favourite  practice  of  the  French,  and 
seems  to  have  been  particularly  in  vogue  in  the 
age  I  mention.  The  press  has  sent  forth  whole 
libraries  of  these  records  since  the  Revolution,  and 
it  is  notorious  that  Louis  XV.  left  Secret  Memoirs, 
written  by  his  own  hand,  of  what  passed  before 
this  convulsion ;  and  had  not  the  papers  of  the 
Tuileries  shared  in  the  wreck  of  royalty,  it  would 
have  been  seen  that  Louis  XVI.  had  made  some 
progress  in  the  memoirs  of  his  time ;  and  even  his 
beautiful  and  unfortunate  Queen  had  herself  made 
extensive  notes  and  collections  for  the  record  of  her 
own  disastrous  career.  Hence  it  must  be  obvious 
how  one  so  nearly  connected  in  situation  and  suffer- 
ing with  her  much-injured  mistress,  as  the  Princess 
Lamballe,  would  naturally  fall  into  a  similar  habit 
had  she  even  no  stronger  temptation  than  fashion 
and  example.  But  self-communion,  by  means  of 
the  pen,  is  invariably  the  consolation  of  strong, 
feeling,  and  reflecting  minds  under  great  calamities, 
especially  when  their  intercourse  with  the  world  has 
been  checked  or  poisoned  by  its  malice. 


INTRODUCTION  13 

The  editor  of  these  pages  herself  fell  into  the 
habit  of  which  she  speaks ;  and  it  being  usual  with 
her  benefactress  to  converse  with  all  the  unreserve 
which  every  honest  mind  shows  when  it  feels  it  can 
confide,  her  humble  attendant,  not  to  lose  facts  of 
such  importance,  commonly  made  notes  of  what  she 
heard.  In  any  other  person's  hands  the  Journal  of 
the  Princess  would  have  been  incomplete;  especially 
as  it  was  written  in  a  rambling  manner,  and  was 
never  intended  for  publication.  But  connected  by 
her  confidential  conversations  with  me,  and  the 
recital  of  the  events  to  which  I  personally  bear 
testimony,  I  trust  it  will  be  found  the  basis  of  a 
satisfactory  record,  which  I  pledge  myself  to  be 
a  true  one. 

I  do  not  know,  however,  that,  at  my  time  of 
life,  and  after  a  lapse  of  thirty  years,  I  should  have 
been  roused  to  the  arrangement  of  the  papers  which 
I  have  combined  to  form  this  narrative,  had 'I  not 
met  with  the  work  of  Madame  Campan  upon  the 
same  subject. 

This  lady  has  said  much  that  is  true  respecting 
the  Queen ;  but  she  has  omitted  much,  and  much 
she  has  misrepresented  :  not,  I  dare  say,  purposely; 


14  INTRODUCTION 

out  from  ignorance,  and  being  wrongly  informed. 
She  was  often  absent  from  the  service,  and  on  such 
occasions  must  have  been  compelled  to  obtain  her 
knowledge  at  second-hand.  She  herself  told  me,  in 
1803,  at  Ecouen,  that  at  a  very  important  epoch 
the  peril  of  her  life  forced  her  from  the  seat  of  action. 
With  the  Princess  Lamballe,  who  was  so  much  about 
the  Queen,  she  never  had  any  particular  connexion. 
The  Princess  certainly  esteemed  her  for  her  devoted- 
ness  to  the  Queen  :  but  there  was  a  natural  reserve 
in  the  Princess's  character,  and  a  mistrust  resulting 
from  circumstances  of  all  those  who  saw  much 
company  as  Madame  Campan  did.  Hence  no 
intimacy  was  encouraged.  Madame  Campan  never 
came  to  the  Princess  without  being  sent  for. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  since  the  Revolution 
utterly  to  destroy  faith  in  the  alleged  attachment 
of  Madame  Campan  to  the  Queen,  by  the  fact  of 
her  having  received  the  daughters  of  many  of  the 
regicides  for  education  into  her  establishment  at 
Ecouen.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  sanction  so  unjust 
a  censure.  Although  what  I  mention  hurt  her 
character  very  much  in  the  estimation  of  her  former 
friends,  and  constituted  one  of  the  grounds  of  the 


INTRODUCTION  15 

dissolution  of  her  establishment  at  Ecouen,  on  the 
restoration  of  the  Bourbons,  and  may  possibly  in 
some  degree  have  deprived  her  of  such  aids  from 
their  adherents,  as  might  have  made  her  work 
unquestionable,  yet  what  else,  let  me  ask,  could 
have  been  done  by  one  dependent  upon  her  exertions 
for  support,  and  in  the  power  of  Napoleon's  family 
and  his  emissaries  ?  On  the  contrary,  I  would  give 
my  public  testimony  in  favour  of  the  fidelity  of 
her  feelings,  though  in  many  instances  I  must 
withhold  it  from  the  fidelity  of  her  narrative.  Her 
being  utterly  isolated  from  the  illustrious  individual 
nearest  to  the  Queen  must  necessarily  leave 
much  to  be  desired  in  her  record.  During  the 
whole  term  of  the  Princess  Lamballe's  superin- 
tendence of  the  Queen's  household,  Madame 
Campan  never  had  any  special  communication 
with  my  benefactress,  excepting  once,  about  the 
things  which  were  to  go  to  Brussels,  before  the 
journey  to  Varennes ;  and  once  again,  relative  to 
a  person  of  the  Queen's  household,  who  had 
received  the  visits  of  Petion,  the  Mayor  of  Paris, 
at  her  private  lodgings.  This  last  communication 
I  myself  particularly  remember,  because  on  that 


l6  INTRODUCTION 

occasion  the  Princess,  addressing  me  in  her  own 
native  language,  Madame  Campan,  observing  it, 
considered  me  as  an  Italian,  till,  by  a  circumstance 
I  shall  presently  relate,  she  was  undeceived. 

I  should  anticipate  the  order  of  events,  and 
incur  the  necessity  of  speaking  twice  of  the  same 
things,  were  I  here  to  specify  the  express  errors  in 
the  work  of  Madame  Campan.  Suffice  it  now  that 
I  observe  generally  her  want  of  knowledge  of  the 
Princess  Lamballe ;  her  omission  of  many  of  the 
most  interesting  circumstances  of  the  Revolution ; 
her  silence  upon  important  anecdotes  of  the  King, 
the  Queen,  and  several  members  ot  the  first 
assembly;  her  mistakes  concerning  the  Princess 
Lamballe's  relations  with  the  Duchess  de  Polignac, 
Count  de  Fersan,  Mirabeau,  the  Cardinal  de  Rohan, 
and  others;  her  great  miscalculation  of  the  time 
when  the  Queen's  confidence  in  Barnave  began, 
and  when  that  of  the  Empress-mother  in  Rohan 
ended ;  her  misrepresentation  of  particulars  re- 
lating to  Joseph  II.;  and  her  blunders  concerning 
the  affair  of  the  necklace,  and  regarding  the  libel 
Madame  Lamotte  published  in  England  with  the 
connivance  of  Calonne : — all  these  will  be  con- 


INTRODUCTION  17 

sidered,  with  numberless  other  statements  equally 
requiring  correction  in  their  turn.  What  she  has 
omitted  I  trust  I  shall  supply ;  and  where  she  has 
gone  astray  I  hope  to  set  her  right;  that,  between 
the  two,  the  future  biographer  of  my  august  bene- 
factresses may  be  in  no  want  of  authentic  materials 
to  do  full  justice  to  their  honoured  memories. 

I  said  in  a  preceding  paragraph  that  I  should 
relate  a  circumstance  about  Madame  Campan, 
which  happened  after  she  had  taken  me  for  an 
Italian  and  before  she  was  aware  of  my  being  in 
the  service  of  the  Princess. 

Madame  Campan,  though  she  had  seen  me 
not  only  at  the  time  I  mention  but  before  and 
after,  had  always  passed  me  without  notice.  One 
Sunday,  when  in  the  gallery  of  the  Tuileries  with 
Madame  de  Stael,  the  Queen,  with  her  usual  suite, 
of  which  Madame  Campan  formed  one,  was  going 
according  to  custom  to  hear  mass,  her  Majesty 
perceived  me  and  most  graciously  addressed  me  in 
German.  Madame  Campan  appeared  greatly  sur- 
prised at  this,  but  walked  on  and  said  nothing. 
Ever  afterwards,  however,  she  treated  me  whenever 
we  met  with  marked  civility. 

VOL.  I 


l8  INTRODUCTION 

Another  edition  of  Boswell  to  those  who  got 
a  nod  from  Dr.  Johnson ! 

The  reader  will  find  in  the  course  of  this 
work  that  on  the  2nd  of  August,  1792,  from  the 
kindness  and  humanity  of  my  august  benefactresses, 
I  was  compelled  to  accept  a  mission  to  Italy,  de- 
vised merely  to  send  me  from  the  sanguinary 
scenes  of  which  they  foresaw  they  and  theirs  must 
presently  become  victims.  Early  in  the  following 
month  the  Princess  Lamballe  was  murdered.  As 
my  history  extends  beyond  the  period  l  have 
mentioned,  it  is  fitting  I  should  explain  the  in- 
disputable authorities  whence  I  derived  such  par- 
ticulars as  i  did  not  see. 

A  person,  high  in  the  confidence  of  the 
Princess,  through  the  means  of  the  honest  coach- 
man of  whom  I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak, 
supplied  me  with  regulai  details  of  whatever  took 
place,  till  she  herself  with  the  rest  of  the  ladies 
and  other  attendants,  being  separated  from  the 
Royal  Family,  was  immured  in  the  prison  of 
La  Force.  When  1  returned  to  Paris  after  thir 
dire  tempest,  Madame  Clery  and  her  friend 
Madame  de  Beaumont,  a  natural  daughter  of 


INTRODUCTION  ig 

Louis  XV.,  with  Monsieur  Chambon  of  Rheims, 
who  never  left  Paris  during  the  time,  confirmed 
the  correctness  of  my  papers.  The  Madame  Clery 
I  mention  is  the  same  who  assisted  her  husband  in 
his  faithful  attendance  upon  the  royal  family  in  the 
Temple ;  and  this  exemplary  man  added  his  testi- 
mony to  the  rest,  in  presence  of  the  Duchess  de 
Guiche  Grammont,  at  Pyrmont  in  Germany,  when 
I  there  met  him  in  the  suite  of  the  late  sovereign 
ot  France,  Louis  XVIII.,  at  a  concert.  After 
the  loth  of  August,  I  had  also  a  continued  corre- 
spondence with  many  persons  at  Paris,  who  sup- 
plied me  with  thorough  accounts  of  the  succeed- 
ing horrors,  in  letters  directed  to  Sir  William 
Hamilton,  at  Naples,  and  by  him  forwarded  to 
me.  And  in  addition  to  all  these  high  sources, 
many  particular  circumstances  have  been  disclosed 
to  me  by  individuals,  whose  authority,  when  I  have 
used  it,  I  have  generally  affixed  to  the  facts  they 
have  enabled  me  to  communicate. 

It  now  only  remains  for  me  to  mention  that 
I  have  endeavoured  to  arrange  everything,  derived 
either  from  the  papers  of  the  Princess  Lamballe, 

or  from  her  remarks,   my  own  observation,  or  the 

2 — 2 


20  INTRODUCTION 

intelligence  of  others,  in  chronological  order.  It 
will  readily  be  seen  by  the  reader  where  the 
Princess  herself  speaks,  as  I  have  invariably  set 
apart  my  own  recollections  and  remarks  in  para- 
graphs and  notes,  which  are  not  only  indicated 
by  the  heading  of  each  chapter,  but  by  the  context 
of  the  passages  themselves.  I  have  also  begun 
and  ended  what  the  Princess  says  with  inverted 
commas.  All  the  earlier  part  of  the  work  preceding 
her  personal  introduction  proceeds  principally  from 
her  pen  or  her  lips :  I  have  done  little  more  than 
changed  it  from  Italian  into  English,  and  embodied 
thoughts  and  sentiments  that  were  often  disjointed 
and  detached.  And  throughout,  whether  she  or 
others  speak,  I  may  safely  say  this  work  will  be 
found  the  most  circumstantial,  and  assuredly  the 
most  authentic,  upon  the  subject  of  which  it  treats, 
of  any  that  has  yet  been  presented  to  the  public 
of  Great  Britain.  The  press  has  been  prolific  in 
fabulous  'writings  upon  these  times,  which  have 
been  devoured  with  avidity.  I  hope  John  Bull  is 
not  so  devoted  to  gilded  foreign  fictions  as  to 
spurn  the  unadorned  truth  from  one  ot  his  down- 
right countrywomen :  and  let  me  advise  him  en 


INTRODUCTION  21 

passant,  not  to  treat  us  beauties  of  native  growth 
with  indifference  at  home  ;  for  we  readily  find 
compensation  in  the  regard,  patronage,  and 
admiration  of  every  nation  in  Europe.1  I  am  old 
now,  and  may  speak  freely. 

i  I  wish  it  were  in  my  power  to  include  a  certain  lady 
in  these  kingdoms,  who  has  recently  written  upon  Italy,  in 
my  contrast  between  British  accuracy  and  foreign  fable. 
This  lady  seems  quite  unencumbered  by  the  fetters  of  truth. 
She  has  either  been  deceived,  or  would  herself  be  the 
deceiver,  respecting  the  replacing  of  the  famous  horses  at 
Venice.  I  was  present  at  that  ceremony,  and  when  I  cast 
my  eyes  over  the  fiction  of  Lady  Morgan  upon  the  subject,  it 
made  me  grieve  to  see  the  account  of  a  country  so  very 
interesting  and  to  me  endeared  by  a  residence  of  nearly 
thirty  years,  among  real  friends  of  humanity  and  general 
good  faith,  drawn  by  a  hand  so  unhesitatingly  inaccurate. 
As  for  her  account  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria  and  Maria 
Louisa — Maria  Louisa  had  never  been  at  Venice  at  the 
time  she  mentions.  When  she  did  come  there  it  was  merely 
to  condole  with  her  imperial  father  for  the  loss  of  her  cousin 
and  mother-in-law,  the  Empress  Lodovica,  daughter  of  the 
Arch-duke  of  Milan,  the  third  wife  of  the  Emperor.  This 
happened  a  considerable  time  after  the  restoration  of  the 
Golden  Steeds  of  Lysippus.  Besides,  it  was  the  Holy  Week, 
Settimnotue  Santa,  when  there  are  never  theatrical  perform- 
ances in  any  part  of  Italy.  The  Court,  too,  from  the  event 
I  have  stated,  was  in  deep  mourning.  Sometimes  I  myself 
may  be  misled,  and  papers  which  have  been  thirty  years 
undisturbed,  may  retain  inaccuracies.  Still,  whenever  I 
assert  from  hearsay  I  have  been  careful — at  least,  I  have 


22  INTRODUCTION 

I  have  no  interest  whatever  in  the  work  I 
submit  but  that  of  endeavouring  to  redeem  the 
character  of  so  many  injured  victims.  Would  to 
Heaven  my  memory  were  less  acute,  and  that  I 
could  obliterate  from  the  knowledge  of  the  world 
and  posterity  the  names  of  their  infamous  de- 
stroyers I  mean  not  the  executioners  who  ter- 
minated their  mortal  existence  —  for  in  their 
miserable  situation  that  early  martyrdom  was  an 
act  of  grace  —  but  I  mean  some,  perhaps  still 
living,  who  with  foul  cowardice,  stabbing  like 
assassins  in  the  dark,  undermined  their  fair  fame 
and  morally  murdered  them,  long  before  their 
deaths,  by  daily  traducing  virtues  the  slanderers 
never  possessed  from  mere  jealousy  of  the  glory 
they  knew  themselves  incapable  of  deserving. 

endeavoured  so  to  do — to  save  my  credit  under  the  shield, 
beneath  which  all  writers  have  it  in  their  power  to  take 
shelter,  the  never  failing  salvo,  con  dotta,  the  on  dit.  But 
neither  the  Count  nor  the  Countess  Cicognara,  whatever 
their  private  reasons  may  be  to  be  dissatisfied  with  the 
conduct  of  the  Austrian  Government  relative  to  themselves, 
could  ever  have  asserted  such  flagrant  falsehoods  to  Lady 
Morgan ;  the  circumstances  being  too  notorious  even  to  the 
Ciceroni  of  the  Piazza,  whose  ignorance  has  spoiled  the 
books  of  so  many  of  her  ladyship's  predecessors. 


INTRODUCTION  23 

Montesquieu  says,  "  If  there  be  a  God,  He  must 
be  just!"  That  divine  justice,  after  centuries,  has 
been  fully  established  on  the  descendants  of  the 
cruel,  sanguinary  conquerors  of  South  America  and 
its  butchered  harmless  Emperor  Montezuma  and  his 
innocent  offspring,  who  are  now  teaching  Spain  a 
moral  lesson  in  freeing  themselves  from  its  insatiable 
thirst  for  blood  and  wealth,  while  God  Himself  has 
refused  that  blessing  to  the  Spaniards  which  they 
denied  to  the  Americans1!  Oh,  France!  what  hast 
thou  not  already  suffered,  and  what  hast  thou  not 
yet  to  suffer,  when  to  thee,  like  Spain,  it  shall  visit 
their  descendants  even  unto  the  fourth  generation  ? 

To  my  insignificant  losses  in  so  mighty  a  ruin 
perhaps  I  ought  not  to  allude.  I  should  not  pre- 
sume even  to  mention  that  the  fatal  convulsion 

i  The  constitutional  members,  who  were  gloriously  fight- 
ing in  the  field  of  liberty  to  rescue  a  rising  generation  from 
tyranny  and  superstitious  bigotry  (an  operation  commenced 
on  the  foundation  of  the  law  of  the  land,  delegated  to  the 
nation  by  its  chosen  representatives  and  sacredly  guaranteed 
through  the  sanction  of  a  constitutional  king,  who  now,  with 
the  rest  of  the  Spanish  nation,  is  in  jeopardy,  a  prisoner,  and 
dependent  on  a  foreign  sovereign),  now  expiate  in  turn  the 
bloody  crimes  of  their  ancestors  on  the  nations  so  long  held  by 
them  in  savage  and  unnatural  bondage ! 


24  INTRODUCTION 

which  shook  all  Europe  and  has  since  left  the 
nations  in  that  state  of  agitated  undulation  which 
succeeds  a  tempest  upon  the  ocean,  were  it  not  for 
the  opportunity  it  gives  me  to  declare  the  bounty 
of  my  benefactresses.  All  my  own  property  went 
down  in  the  wreck ;  and  the  mariner  who  escapes 
only  with  his  life  can  never  recur  to  the  scene  of 
his  escape  without  a  shudder.  Many  persons  are 
still  living,  of  the  first  respectability,  who  well 
remember  my  quitting  this  country,  though  very 
young,  on  the  budding  of  a  brilliant  career.  Had 
those  prospects  been  followed  up  they  would  have 
placed  me  beyond  the  caprice  of  fickle  fortune. 
But  the  dazzling  lustre  of  crown  favours  and 
princely  patronage  outweighed  the  slow,  though 
more  solid  hopes  of  self-achieved  independence. 
I  certainly  was  then  almost  a  child,  and  my 
vanity,  perhaps,  of  the  honour  of  being  useful  to 
two  such  illustrious  personages  got  the  better  ot 
every  other  sentiment.  But  now  when  I  reflect, 
I  look  back  with  consternation  on  the  many 
risks  I  ran,  on  the  many  times  I  stared  death 
in  the  face  with  no  fear  but  that  of  being 
obstructed  in  my  efforts  to  serve,  even  with  my 


INTRODUCTION  25 

life,  the  interests  dearest  to  my  heart  —  that  of 
implicit  obedience  to  these  truly  benevolent  and 
generous  Princesses,  who  only  wanted  the  means 
to  render  me  as  happy  and  independent  as  their 
cruel  destiny  has  since  made  me  wretched  and 
miserable  !  Had  not  death  deprived  me  of  their 
patronage  I  should  have  had  no  reason  to  have 
regretted  any  sacrifice  I  could  have  made  for 
them,  for  through  the  Princess,  Her  Majesty, 
unasked,  had  done  me  the  honour  to  promise 
me  the  reversion  of  a  most  lucrative  as  well  as 
highly  respectable  post  in  her  employ.  In  these 
august  personages  I  lost  my  best  friends;  I  lost 
everything — except  the  tears,  which  bathe  the 
paper  as  I  write — tears  ol  gratitude,  which  will 
never  cease  to  flow  to  the  memory  of  their 
martyrdom, 


CHAPTER    I 

JOURNAL  COMMENCED — EMPRESS  MARIA  THERESA,  MOTHER 
OF  MARIA  ANTOINETTE — HER  POLITICAL  VIEWS  IN  ALL 
THE  MARRIAGES  OF  HER  DAUGHTERS — FATE  OF  THE 
ARCH-DUCHESS  JOSEPHA — ON  THE  DEATH  OF  JOSEPHA, 
THE  ARCH-DUCHESS  CAROLINA  WEDS  THE  KING  OF 
NAPLES — MARIA  THERESA'S  REMONSTRANCE  WITH  THE 

COURT  OF  NAPLES,  ON  HER  DAUGHTER'S   TREATMENT 

THE   DAUGHTER  REMONSTRATES   MORE   PROMPTLY  AND 

EFFECTUALLY  MARIA     ANTOINETTE     DESTINED     FOR 

FRANCE — MADAME  POMPADOUR — FRENCH  HATRED  TO 
AUSTRIA — VERMOND  RECOMMENDED  BY  BRIENNE  AS 
MARIA  ANTOINETTE'S  TUTOR— HE  BECOMES  A  TOOL  OF 
AUSTRIA — LIMITED  EDUCATION  OF  MARIA  ANTOINETTE 
— HER  FONDNESS  FOR  BALLS  AND  PRIVATE  PLAYS  — 

METASTASIO  DU     BARRY  OBSERVATIONS    OK    THE 

EDITOR  ON  MARIA  THERESA'S  SACRIFICE  OF  HER 
DAUGHTERS  TO  HER  POLICY 

"THE  character  of  Maria  Theresa,  the  Empress- 
mother  of  Maria  Antoinette,  is  sufficiently  known. 
The  same  spirit  of  ambition  and  enterprise  which 
had  already  animated  her  contentions  with  France 
in  the  latter  part  of  her  career  impelled  her  to  wish 
for  its  alliance.  In  addition  to  other  hopes,  she 


CHAPTER    I  27 

had  been  encouraged  to  imagine  that  Louis  XV. 
might  one  day  aid  her  in  recovering  the  provinces 
which  the  King  of  Prussia  had  violently  wrested 
from  her  ancient  dominions.  She  felt  the  many 
advantages  to  be  derived  from  an  union  with  her 
ancient  enemy,  and  she  looked  for  its  accomplish- 
ment by  the  marriage  of  her  daughter. 

"  Policy,  in  sovereigns,  is  paramount  to  every 
other  consideration.  They  regard  beauty  as  a 
source  of  profit,  like  managers  of  theatres,  who, 
when  a  female  candidate  is  offered,  ask  whether 
she  is  young  and  handsome  ? — not  whether  she  has 
talent.  Maria  Theresa  believed  that  her  daughter's 
beauty  would  have  proved  more  powerful  over 
France  than  her  own  armies.  Like  Catharine  II., 
her  envied  contemporary,  she  consulted  no  ties  of 
nature  in  the  disposal  of  her  children ;  a  system 
more  in  character  where  the  knout  is  the  logician 
than  among  nations  boasting  higher  civilization : 
indeed  her  rivalry  with  Catharine  even  made  her 
grossly  neglect  their  education.  Jealous  of  the 
rising  power  of  the  North,  she  saw  that  it  was 
the  purpose  of  Russia  to  counteract  her  views 
in  Poland  and  Turkey  through  France,  and  so 


28  CHAPTER   I 

totally  forgot  her  domestic  duties  in  the  desire  to 
thwart  the  ascendency  of  Catharine  that  she  often 
suffered  eight  or  ten  days  to  go  by  without  even 
seeing  her  children,  allowing  even  the  essential 
sources  of  instruction  to  remain  unprovided.  Her 
very  caresses  were  scarcely  given  but  for  display, 
when  the  children  were  admitted  to  be  shown 
to  some  great  personage;  and  if  they  were  over- 
whelmed with  kindness,  it  was  merely  to  excite 
a  belief  that  they  were  the  constant  care  and 
companions  of  her  leisure  hours.  When  they 
grew  up  they  became  the  mere  instruments  of 
her  ambition.  The  fate  of  one  of  them  will 
show  how  their  mother's  worldliness  was  re- 
warded.1 

"  A  leading  object  of  Maria  Theresa's  policy 
was  the  attainment  of  influence  over  Italy.  For 
this  purpose  she  first  married  one  of  the  arch- 
duchesses to  the  imbecile  Duke  of  Parma.  Her 
second  manoeuvre  was  to  contrive  that  Charles  III. 
should  seek  the  Arch -duchess  Josepha  for  his 

I  The  Princess,  could  she  have  looked  into  the  book  of 
Fate,  might  have  said  the  fate  of  two;  but  the  most  per- 
secuted victim  was  not  at  that  time  sacrificed. 


CHAPTER    I  29 

younger  son,  the  King  of  Naples.  When  every- 
thing had  been  settled,  and  the  ceremony  by 
proxy  had  taken  place,  it  was  thought  proper 
to  sound  the  Princess  as  to  how  far  she  felt 
inclined  to  aid  her  mother's  designs  in  the 
Court  of  Naples.  *  Scripture  says,'  was  her  reply 
'  that  when  a  woman  is  married  she  belongs  to 
the  country  of  her  husband.' 

'• '  But  the  policy  of  State  ?  '  exclaimed  Maria 
Theresa. 

"  '  Is  that  above  religion  ? '  cried  the  Princess. 

"  This  unexpected  answer  of  the  Arch-duchess 
was  so  totally  opposite  to  the  views  of  the 
Empress  that  she  was  for  a  considerable  time 
undecided  whether  she  would  allow  her  daughter 
to  depart,  till,  worn  out  by  perplexities,  she  at 
last  consented,  but  bade  the  Arch-duchess,  previous 
to  sett:ng  off  for  this  much-desired  country  of  her 
new  husband,  to  go  down  to  the  tombs,  and  in 
the  vaults  of  her  ancestors  offer  up  to  Heaven  a 
fervent  prayer  for  the  departed  souls  of  those  she 
was  about  to  leave. 

"  Only  a  few  days  before  that,  a  Princess  had 
been  buried  in  the  vaults — I  think  Joseph  the 


30  CHAPTER   I 

Second's  second  wife,  who  had  died  of  the  small- 
pox. 

"  The  Arch-duchess  Josepha  obeyed  her  im- 
perial mother's  cruel  commands,  took  leave  of  all 
her  friends  and  relatives,  as  if  conscious  of  the 
result,  caught  the  same  disease,  and  in  a  few 
days  died ! 

"  The  Arch-duchess  Carolina  was  now  tutored 
to  become  her  sister's  substitute,  and  when  deemed 
adequately  qualified  was  sent  to  Naples,  where 
she  certainly  never  forgot  she  was  an  Austrian 
nor  the  interest  of  the  Court  of  Vienna.  One 
circumstance  concerning  her  and  her  mother  fully 
illustrates  the  character  of  both.  On  the  marriage, 
the  Arch-duchess  found  that  Spanish  etiquette  did 
not  allow  the  Queen  to  have  the  honour  of  dining 
at  the  same  table  as  the  King.  She  apprised  her 
mother.  Maria  Theresa  instantly  wrote  to  the 
Marchese  Tenucei,  then  Prime  Minister  at  the 
Court  of  Naples,  to  say,  that  if  her  daughter,  now 
Queen  of  Naples,  was  to  be  considered  less  than 
the  King  her  husband,  she  would  send  an  army 
to  fetch  her  back  to  Vienna,  and  the  King  might 
purchase  a  Georgian  slave,  for  an  Austrian  Princess 


CHAPTER    I  31 

should  not  be  thus  humbled.  Maria  Theresa  need 
not  have  given  herself  all  this  trouble,  for  before 
the  letter  arrived  the  Queen  of  Naples  had  dis- 
missed all  the  ministry,  upset  the  cabinet  of  Naples, 
and  turned  out  even  the  King  himself  from  her  bed- 
chamber !  So  much  for  the  overthrow  of  Spanish 
etiquette  by  Austrian  policy.  The  King  of  Spain  be- 
came outrageous  at  the  influence  of  Maria  Theresa, 
but  there  was  no  alternative. 

"  The  other  daughter  of  the  Empress  was  mar- 
ried, as  I  have  observed  already,  to  the  Duke  of 
Parma  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the  Austrian 
strength  in  Italy  against  that  of  France,  to  which 
the  Court  of  Parma,  as  well  as  that  of  Modena, 
had  been  long  attached. 

"  The  fourth  Arch-duchess,  Maria  Antoinette, 
being  the  youngest  and  most  beautiful  of  the 
family,  was  destined  for  France.  There  were 
three  older  than  Maria  Antoinette  ;  but  she, 
being  much  lovelier  than  her  sisters,  was  selected 
on  account  of  her  charms.  Her  husband  was 
never  considered  by  the  contrivers  of  the  scheme : 
he  was  known  to  have  no  sway  whatever,  not 
even  in  the  choice  of  his  own  wife  1  But  the 


32  CHAPTER   I 

character  of  Louis  XV.  was  recollected,  and  cal- 
culations drawn  from  it,  upon  the  probable  power 
which  youth  and  beauty  might  obtain  over  such 
a  King  and  Court. 

"  It  was  during  the  time  when  Madame 
Pompadour  directed,  not  only  the  King,  but  all 
France  with  most  despotic  sway,  that  the  union 
of  the  Arch-duchess  Maria  Antoinette  with  the 
grandson  ol  Louis  XV.  was  proposed.  The  plan 
received  the  warmest  support  ot  Choiseul,  then 
Minister,  and  the  ardent  co-operation  of  Pompadour. 
Indeed  it  was  to  her,  the  Duke  de  Choiseul,  and 
the  Count  de  Mercy,  the  whole  affair  may  be 
ascribed.  So  highly  was  she  flattered  by  the 
attention  with  which  Maria  Theresa  distinguished 
her,  in  consequence  of  her  zeal,  by  presents  and 
by  the  title  '  dear  cousin,'  which  she  used  in 
writing  to  her,  that  she  left  no  stone  unturned 
till  the  proxy  of  the  Dauphin  was  sent  to  Vienna, 
to  marry  Maria  Antoinette  in  his  name. 

"  All  the  interest  by  which  this  union  was 
supported  could  not,  however,  subdue  a  prejudice 
against  it,  not  only  among  many  of  the  Court,  the 
cabinet,  and  the  nation,  but  in  the  royal  family 


CHAPTER    I  33 

itself.  France  has  never  looked  with  complacency 
upon  alliances  with  the  House  of  Austria :  enemies 
to  this  one  avowed  themselves  as  soon  as  it  was 
declared.  The  daughters  of  Louis  XV.  openly 
expressed  their  aversion ;  but  the  stronger  influence 
prevailed,  and  Maria  Antoinette  became  the 
Dauphiness. 

"  Brienne,  Archbishop  of  Toulouse,  and  after- 
wards of  Sens,  suggested  the  appointment  of  the 
Librarian  of  the  College  des  Quatre  Nations,  the 
Abb6  Vermond,  as  instructor  to  the  Dauphiness 
in  French.  The  Abbe  Vermond  was  accordingly 
dispatched  by  Louis  XV.  to  Vienna.  The  conse- 
quences of  this  appointment  will  be  seen  in  the 
sequel.  Perhaps  not  the  least  fatal  of  them  arose 
from  his  gratitude  to  the  Archbishop,  who  recom- 
mended him.  In  some  years  afterwards,  influencing 
his  pupil,  when  Queen,  to  help  Brienne  to  the 
ministry,  he  did  her  and  her  kingdom  more  injury 
than  their  worst  foes.  Of  the  Abbe"s  power  over 
Maria  Antoinette  there  are  various  opinions  ;  of 
his  capacity  there  is  but  one — he  was  superficial 
and  cunning.  On  his  arrival  at  Vienna  he  became 

the  tool  of  Maria  Theresa.     While   there,   he  re- 
VOL.  i  3 


34  CHAPTER    I 

ccived  a  salary  as  the  daughter's  tutor,  and  when 
he  returned  to  France,  a  much  larger  one  as  the 
mother's  spy.  He  was  more  ambitious  to  be 
thought  a  great  man,  in  his  power  over  his  pupil, 
than  a  rich  one.  He  was  too  Jesuitical  to  wish  to 
be  deemed  rich.  He  knew  that  superfluous  emolu- 
ments would  soon  have  overthrown  the  authority 
he  derived  from  conferring,  rather  than  receiving 
favours ;  and  hence  he  never  soared  to  any  higher 
post.  He  was  generally  considered  to  be  dis- 
interested. How  far  his  private  fortunes  benefited 
by  his  station  has  never  appeared ;  nor  is  it  known, 
whether  by  the  elevation  of  his  friend  and  patron 
to  the  ministry  in  the  time  of  Louis  XVI.,  he 
gained  anything  beyond  the  gratification  of  vanity, 
from  having  been  the  cause:  it  is  probable  he  did 
not,  for  if  he  had,  from  the  general  odium  against 
that  promotion,  no  doubt  it  would  have  been 
exposed,  unless  the  influence  of  the  Queen  was  his 
protection,  as  it  proved  in  so  many  cases  where 
he  grossly  erred.  From  the  first  he  was  an  evil 
to  Maria  Antoinette ;  and  ultimately  habit  rendered 
him  a  necessary  evil.1 

i  Upon  these  points  more  will  be  said  hereafter. 


CHAPTER    I  35 

"  The  education  of  the  Dauphiness  was  circum- 
scribed ;  though  very  free  in  her  manners,  she  was 
very  deficient  in  other  respects ;  and  hence  it  was 
she  so  much  avoided  all  society  ol  females  who 
were  better  informed  than  herself,  courting  in 
preference  the  lively  tittle-tattle  of  the  other  sex, 
who  were  in  turn,  better  pleased  with  the  gaieties 
of  youth  and  beauty  than  the  more  substantial 
logical  witticisms  of  antiquated  Court-dowagers. 
To  this  may  be  ascribed  her  ungovernable  passion 
for  great  societies,  balls,  masquerades,  and  all 
kinds  of  public  and  private  amusements,  as  well 
as  her  subsequent  attachment  to  the  Duchess  de 
Polignac,  who  so  much  encouraged  them  for  the 
pastime  of  her  friend  and  sovereign.  Though 
naturally  averse  to  everything  requiring  study  or 
application,  Maria  Antoinette  was  very  assiduous 
in  preparing  herself  for  the  parts  she  performed 
in  the  various  comedies,  farces,  and  cantatas 
given  at  her  private  theatre ;  and  their  acquire- 
ment seemed  to  cost  her  no  trouble.  These 
innocent  diversions  became  a  source  ot  calumny 
against  her;  yet  they  formed  almost  the  only  part 

ot    her    German    education,    about    which    Maria 

3—2 


36  CHAPTER   I 

Theresa  had  been  particular:  the  Empress-mother 
deemed  them  so  valuable  to  her  children  that 
she  ordered  the  celebrated  Metastasio  to  write 
some  of  his  most  sublime  cantatas  for  the 
evening  recreations  of  her  sisters  and  herself. 
And  what  can  more  conduce  to  elegant  literary 
knowledge,  or  be  less  dangerous  to  the  morals 
of  the  young,  than  domestic  recitation  of  the 
finest  flights  of  the  intellect  ?  Certain  it  is  that 
Maria  Antoinette  never  forgot  her  idolatry  of 
her  master  Metastasio ;  and  it  would  have  been 
well  for  her  had  all  concerned  in  her  education 
done  her  equal  justice.  The  Abbe  Vermond 
encouraged  these  studies ;  and  the  King  himself 
afterwards  sanctioned  the  translation  of  the  works 
of  his  Queen's  revered  instructor,  and  their  publi- 
cation at  her  own  expense,  in  a  superb  edition, 
that  she  might  gratify  her  fondness  the  more 
conveniently  by  reciting  them  in  French.1  When 

i  Happy,  thrice  happy,  had  it  been  for  Maria  Antoinette, 
happy  for  France,  happy,  perhaps,  for  all  Europe,  had  this 
taste  never  been  thwarted.  The  mind,  once  firmly  occupied 
in  any  particular  pursuit,  is  guarded  against  the  danger 
arising  from  volatility  and  ennui.  The  mind,  in  want  of 
an  object  of  occupation  congenial  to  its  youth  and  tendencies, 


CHAPTER   I  37 

Maria  Antoinette  herself  became  a  mother,  and 
oppressed  from  the  change  of  circumstances,  she 
regretted  much  that  she  had  not  in  early  life 
cultivated  her  mind  more  extensively.  '  What  a 
resoi  r  je,'  would  she  exclaim,  '  is  a  mind  well 
stored  against  human  casualties ! '  She  deter- 
mined to  avoid  in  her  own  offspring  the  error,  of 
which  she  felt  herself  the  victim,  committed  by 
her  Imperial  mother,  for  whose  fault,  though 
she  suffered,  she  would  invent  excuses.  '  The 
Empress,'  she  would  say,  'was  left  a  young  widow 
with  ten  or  twelve  children;  she  had  been  accus- 
tomed, even  during  the  Emperor's  life,  to  head 
her  vast  empire,  and  she  thought  it  would  be  un- 
just to  sacrifice  to  her  own  children  the  welfare 
of  the  numerous  family  which  afterwards  devolved 
upon  her  exclusive  government  and  protection.' 

"  Most  unfortunately  for  Maria  Antoinette,1 
her  great  supporter,  Madame  de  Pompadour, 
died  before  the  Arch  -  duchess  came  to  France. 
The  pilot  who  was  to  steer  the  young  mariner 

often  rushes  unconsciously  into  errors,  fatal  to  its  peace,  its 
reputation,  and  its  existence. 

i  And  perhaps  for  all  Europe,  if  we  may  judge  from 
the  result. 


38  CHAPTER   I 

safe  into  port,  was  no  more,  when  she  arrived 
at  it.  The  Austrian  interest  had  sunk  with  its 
patroness.  The  intriguers  of  the  Court  no  sooner 
saw  the  King  without  an  avowed  favourite  than 
they  sought  to  give  him  one  who  should  further 
their  own  views  and  crush  the  Choiseul  party,  which 
had  been  sustained  by  Pompadour.  The  licentious 
Duke  de  Richelieu  was  the  pander  on  this  occasion. 
The  low,  vulgar  Du  Barry  was  by  him  introduced 
to  the  King,  and  Richelieu  had  the  honour  of 
enthroning  a  successor  to  Pompadour,  and  supply- 
ing Louis  XV.  with  the  last  of  his  mistresses. 
Madame  de  Grammont,  who  had  been  the  royal 
confidante  during  the  interregnum,  gave  up  to  the 
rising  star.  The  effect  of  a  new  power  was  pre- 
sently seen  in  new  events.  All  the  ministers  known 
to  be  attached  to  the  Austrian  interest  were  dis- 
missed ;  and  the  time  for  the  arrival  of  the  young 
bride,  the  Arch-duchess  of  Austria,  who  was  about 
to  be  installed  Dauphiness  of  France,  was  at  hand, 
and  she  came  to  meet  scarcely  a  friend,  and  many 
foes : — of  which  even  her  beauty,  her  gentleness, 
and  her  simplicity,  were  doomed  to  swell  the 
phalanx." 


CHAPTER    I  39 


NOTE. 

The  preceding  pages  of  the  Princess  Lamballe 
excite  reflections,  which,  as  editor,  I  cannot  suffer  to 
pass  without  a  commentary  of  my  own.  My  reflections 
are  grounded  upon  what  I  know  to  have  been  in  some 
degree  the  apprehensions  of  Her  Highness ;  but  she 
did  not  live  to  see  the  fearful  prophecies  accomplished. 
I  have  often  heard  her  utter  many  of  the  following 
sentiments,  of  which  I  may  be  deemed  in  part,  there- 
fore, only  the  transcriber ;  and  the  awful  result  has 
been  a  thorough  illustration  of  the  precision  with  which 
she  judged.  Some  of  my  observations,  it  will  be 
apparent,  she  could  not  have  uttered  ;  but  I  have  every 
reason  to  believe  that  she  foresaw,  as  distinctly  as 
mortal  vision  can  look  into  futurity,  those  parts  of 
what  I  am  about  to  state,  which,  though  her  thoughts 
dwelt  upon,  her  discretion  would  not  let  her  name. 
It  is  this  which  gives  to  her  unwavering  devotedness 
to  the  Queen,  amid  a  consciousness  of  the  inevitable 
denouement,  all  the  grace  of  martyrdom. 

Maria  Theresa'  was  greatly  deceived  in  the  specula- 
tions she  had  formed  in  her  private  cabinet  at  Vienna 
upon  her  daughter's  marriage,  and  the  influence  she 
hoped  to  gain  from  that  event  over  the  cabinet  of 


4o 


CHAPTER   I 


France.  To  imagine  for  a  moment  that  she  acted 
from  any  view  to  her  daughter's  happiness  or  aggran- 
disement would  be  absurd.  Her  real  views  were  built 
on  error.  The  hostile  feeling  against  Austria  was  too 
strong  in  France  to  be  overcome  by  State  policy,  and 
she  was  only  preparing  a  scaffold  for  her  child  where 
she  meditated  a  triumph  for  herself.  She  sacrificed 
everything  to  her  ambition,  and  in  her  ambition  she 
was  punished.  Had  Maria  Theresa  been  less  cruel 
after  the  battle  of  Prague  perhaps  the  French  nation 
would  have  been  kinder  to  her  child.  There  may  be 
no  rule  without  an  exception ;  but  there  is  one  incul- 
cated by  the  mystery  of  religion,  instituted  by  the 
word  of  the  Supreme  Himself,  by  that  primitive  food 
wherewith  our  intellects  are  nourished,  by  that  school 
and  guide  of  our  infancy,  by  that  conductor  of  our 
youth,  by  that  pilot  which  steers  us  with  rectitude 
into  the  harbour  of  maturity — that  Holy  Book  declares 
without  reserve,  Do  as  you  would  be  done  by,  or  you  shall 
be  visited  to  the  third  and  fourth  generation  !  How  scrupu- 
lously just,  then,  ought  the  head  of  a  family  to  be  in 
dealing  with  others !  Not  but  I  conceive  it  the  duty 
of  every  individual  to  act  righteously ;  but  of  parents 
it  is  a  special  duty.  And  if  more  awful  the  responsibiltiy 
upon  parents,  how  tremendous  must  it  be  upon  rulers ! 
Look  at  the  example  Maria  Theresa  set  her  children  ! 
What  lessons  has  she  given  them  as  a  mother  ?  What 
as  a  monarch  ?  The  violent  usurpation  of  Mantua  from 


CHAPTER    I  41 

the  princely  family  of  the  Gonzagas  and  the  partition 
of  Poland  form  the  answer.  But  there  is  a  madness 
in  power  which  prevails  even  over  nature,  and  often 
over  interest  itself,  when  it  seeks  the  attainment  of 
any  specific  end.  Silesia,  in  the  consideration  of  Maria 
Theresa,  outweighed  all  others.  Of  the  same  stamp 
was  the  headlong  pertinacity  of  Louis  XIV.  He  waged 
war  against  almost  all  Europe  to  destroy  the  Austrian 
influence  in  Spain,  and  with  his  own  to  place  Philip  V. 
his  grandson  on  the  throne  of  Iberia.  From  State 
policy  he  as  readily  agreed  to  subsidise  Great  Britain, 
in  order  to  tear  asunder  the  very  crown,  which  he 
himself  had  cemented  with  the  blood  and  treasures  of 
his  subjects ;  and  tried  his  utmost  to  hurl  from  the 
throne  a  prince  seated  on  it,  at  the  risk  of  losing  his 
own !  It  was  for  political  intrigue  Maria  Antoinette 
was  sent  to  France — or  rather,  a  family  compact,  under 
which  title  the  true  purpose  is  disguised  in  royal  mar- 
riages, and  by  political  intrigue  she  fell  into  snares 
fatal  to  her  peace. 


CHAPTER    II 

EDITOR'S     REMARKS     ON     ERRONEOUS    STATEMENTS    OF 
MADAME  CAMPAN — JOURNAL  RESUMED — DAUPHIN  ON  HIS 

WEDDING-NIGHT    AND    THE    NEXT    MORNING  COURT 

INTRIGUES   BEGIN — DAUGHTERS   OF   LOUIS  XV. — THEIR 
INFLUENCE    ON    THE    DAUPHIN   AND    DISLIKE    OF    HIS 

YOUNG    BRIDE MARIA    ANTOINETTE'S    DISTASTE    FOR 

ETIQUETTE  AND    LOVE  OF  SIMPLICITY — COURT  TASTE 

FOR    HOOP-DRESSES    ACCOUNTED    FOR  MADAME    DE 

NOAILLES — HER  HORROR  AT  NOT  HAVING  BEEN  SUM- 
MONED   ON    AN    OCCASION    OF    DELICACY  DUKE  DE 

VAUGUYON  TAKES  A  DISLIKE  TO   MARIA  ANTOINETTE — 

CABAL   BETWEEN  VERMOND  AND    MADAME   MARSAN DU 

BARRY    JEALOUS   OF   THE   DAUPHINESS RICHELIEU 

THREE  LADIES  LEAVE  THE  SUPPER-TABLE  OF  LOUIS  XV. 

FROM    DU    BARRY   BEING   THERE REMONSTRANCE   OF 

THE    DAUPHINESS   TO    HER    MOTHER    ON    BEING   MADE 

TO  SUP  WITH    DU  BARRY ANSWER COUNT  D'ARTOIS 

AND    MONSIEUR     RETURN     FROM    TRAVELLING  ARE 

CHARMED    WITH    MARIA    ANTOINETTE  SCANDAL    RE- 
SPECTING D'ARTOIS   AND  THE   DAUPHINESS  —  CHANGES 

WROUGHT     BY    COURT     MARRIAGES — REMONSTRANCE     OF 
MARIA   THERESA   TO    THE    FRENCH    COURT — DUCHESS    DE 

GRAMMONT LOUIS    XV.    INTRIGUES     TO     DIVORCE    THE 

DAUPHIN      AND      MARRY     THE      DAUPHINESS   DIAMOND 

NECKLACE    FIRST   ORDERED    BY    LOUIS   XV.    AS  A  PRESENT 

TO     HIS     HOPED-FOR    BRIDE DAUPHIN     COMPLAINS     OF 

THE    DISTANCE    OF    HIS   APARTMENT    FROM     THAT   OF    HIS 

WIFE    ALL      PARTIES       INTRIGUE       TO       GET      MARIA 

ANTOINETTE     SENT     BACK    TO    AUSTRIA 

BEFORE     I    return     to    the    Journal    of    the 
Princess    Lamballe,   as    it    falls    into    the    regular 


CHAPTER   II  43 

chronological  arrangement,  let  me  give  a  passing 
moment  to  the  more  recent  biographer  of  Maria 
Antoinette,  Madame  Campan.  Her  description  of 
the  first  appearance  of  Her  Majesty  at  Kehl,  where 
the  change  took  place  from  the  Austrian  wardrobe 
to  the  French,  according  to  the  prescribed  etiquette 
on  those  occasions,  is  so  strikingly  characteristic  of 
that  unfortunate  Princess  that  I  cannot  avoid 
referring  to  it,  though  I  much  doubt  the  authen- 
ticity of  some  of  its  details.  The  reader,  however, 
will  see  a  glimmer  of  the  bewitching  simplicity  of 
its  subject  through  all  the  errors  of  the  narrative  ; 
whence  it  will  be  evident  how  inestimable  a  gem 
this  Princess  would  have  proved  had  she  been  left 
in  her  rough  German  artlessness. 

In  page  45,  chapter  3,  Madame  Campan 
says  :  — "  When  the  Dauphiness  had  been  entirely 
undressed,  even  to  her  body  linen  and  stockings,  in 
order  that  she  might  retain  nothing  belonging  to  a, 
foreign  Court,  the  doors  were  opened": — mark,  in  a 
state  no  less  than  that  of  the  Lady  Godiva, — (tthe 
young  Princess  came  forward,"  —  not  even  en  chemise 
— as  the  horse  jockeys  do  at  Newmarket,  I  suppose, 
in  order  to  be  weighed  before  they  mount  the 


44  CHAPTER    il 

steed  !  But  let  us  go  on,  — "  came  forward,"  — 
coolly,  she  should  have  said, — "looking  round  for  the 
Countess  de  Noailles." 

Now  among  Hottentots,  or  some  of  those 
Egyptian  females1  who  conceive  the  face  to  be  the 
most  sacred  part  of  the  human  frame,  and  who, 
when  surprised  drawing  water  at  the  well  or  foun- 
tain to  fill  their  jars  do,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
men  from  seeing  them,  actually  throw  up  their 
clothing,  even  to  the  body-linen,  to  hide  their 
faces !  Among  these  I  say  such  an  exhibition 
might  be  possible ;  but  that  an  Austrian  Princess 
should,  like  a  maniac,  have  been  thus  exposed  to 
the  contemplation  of  some  forty  or  fifty  idle 
gazers ! — can  such  a  thing  be  credited  ? 

"Then," — continues  Madame  Campan — "rush- 
ing into  her  arms," — which  I  daresay  she  did,  if 

I  General  Menou,  when  Governor  of  Venice,  told  me 
among  other  circumstances  that  the  great  hatred  of  the 
Egyptians  against  the  French  arose  from  their  having 
violated  many  Egyptian  females  on  the  exhibition  of  what 
other  nations  generally  conceal,  and  several  innocent  and 
respectable  persons  were  thus  sacrificed  to  the  brutality  of 
the  soldiers.  He  said  he  could  not  pronounce  whether  the 
custom  was  universal,  but  in  some  villages  he  had  witnessed 
it  himself. 


CHAPTER    II  45 

it  was  cold, — "she  implored  her" — "implored!"  a 
word  that  is  very  seldom  in  the  mouth  of  princesses, 
and  much  less  in  that  of  the  high-mettled  race  of 
an  Austrian  arch-duchess  like  Maria  Antoinette. 
— But  once  more  to  the  text : — "implored  her,  with 
tears  in  her  eyes,  and  with  a  heartfelt  sincerity,  to 
direct  her,  to  advise  her,  and  to  be,  in  every  respect, 
her  future  guide  and  support  I " 

Upon  this,  Madame  Campan  observes,  "It 
was  impossible  to  refrain  from  admiring  her  aerial 
deportment;  her  smile  was  sufficient  to  win  the  heart; 
and  in  this  enchanting  being  the  splendour  of  French 
gaiety  shone  forth!" 

I  have  often  heard  splendour  and  dignity 
coupled  together,  but  I  do  not  remember  the 
union  of  gaiety  and  splendour.  No  doubt  it  is 
correct,  however,  as  a  French  woman,  who  has 
been  the  instructress  of  princesses,  has  written  it. 

To  proceed  with  Madame  Campan: — "An 
indescribable  but  august  serenity,  perhaps  also  the  some- 
what protid  position  of  her  head  and  shoulders,  betrayed 
the  daughter  of  the  Cczsars" 

However,  the  word  "betrayed"  is  here  mis- 
applied (and  I  myself  should  have  used  Pourtraycd, 


46  CHAPTER    II 

unfolded,  or  demonstrated,  which  I  think,  with  all 
due  submission  to  the  compiler  or  composer  of 
Madame  Campan's  work,  would  have  been  more 
appropriate  than  the  word  "betrayed"),  the  re- 
mark is  thoroughly  correct.  Such  were  indeed  the 
head  and  shoulders  of  Maria  Antoinette.  Their 
beauty  was  the  envy  of  the  one  sex,  and  the 
source  of  much  abominable  detraction  in  those 
who  might  not  approach  it  of  the  other. 

There  are  no  doubt  many  inconveniences  in- 
separable from  the  etiquette  of  royal  marriages, 
and  many  more  which  spring  from  chance.  I  have 
read  somewhere  of  a  proxy,  who  came  so  near 
the  bride  as  to  prick  her  with  his  spur;  which 
certainly  was  not  the  intention  of  the  royal  spouse. 
But  I  am  much  disposed  to  believe,  comparing  the 
forms  on  the  marriage  of  Maria  Antoinette  with 
those  observed  with  others  of  her  husband's  family 
at  the  same  period,  as  well  as  with  her  own  ex- 
cessive modesty,  that  in  this  instance,  as  in  many 
others,  she  has  been  misrepresented.  I  should 
rather  conceive  the  etiquette  to  have  been  similar 
to  that  adopted  when  the  Princess  Clotilda  the 
sister  of  Louis  XVI.  was  consigned  over  to  the 


CHAPTER    II  47 

Piedmontese  ladies  of  the  Court  of  Turin.  A  large 
wardrobe  of  different  dresses  of  every  kind  met  her 
at  the  last  frontier  town  of  France.  There  she  put 
on  the  clothes  provided  for  the  purpose,  returning 
those  she  brought  to  the  persons  who  saw  her 
out  of  France.  No  public  dressing  or  undressing 
was  thought  of;  and  she  was  by  far  too  fat  to  run, 
in  puris  naturalibus,  into  the  arms  of  any  lady  of 
honour  who  might  not  be  of  the  most  uncourtly 
dimensions.  Such,  also,  was  the  mode  pursued 
when  Madame  and  her  sister  the  Countess 
D'Artois,  both  Princesses  of  Piedmont,  were 
married  to  the  two  brothers  of  Louis  XVI.  No 
indelicate  display  like  that  which  Madame 
Campan  describes  as  having  taken  place  under 
the  Countess  de  Noailles  was  exacted  from 
either  of  the  brides.  And  why  should  such  an 
exception  have  been  made  in  the  case  of  the 
young  Austrian  ?  Indeed  (and  I  speak  here  from 
the  authority  of  my  papers),  so  scrupulous  was 
Maria  Antoinette  in  her  observance  of  modesty 
and  decorum,  that  she  was  laughed  at  by  the 
young  princes  and  nobles,  for  withdrawing  with 
her  tirewoman  to  have  her  hair  arranged  in 


48  CHAPTER    II 

private ;  because  her  toilette  being  the  usual 
morning  rendezvous  of  all  belonging  to  the  Court, 
she  could  not  reconcile  it  to  her  feelings,  to  follow 
the  precedent  of  all  former  dauphinesses  and 
queens,  by  allowing  even  this  slight  ceremony 
to  be  performed  about  her  person,  pro  bono 
publico.  Is  it  at  all  likely,  then,  that  she  could 
have  consented  under  any  circumstances  to  the 
exposure  Madame  Campan  has  described  ?  But 
enough  of  this  :  I  resume  my  editorial  functions, 
and  return  to  the  more  agreeable  narrative  of  the 
Princess  of  Lamballe. 


"  On  the  marriage  night,  Louis  XV.  said  gaily 
to  the  Dauphin  who  was  supping  with  his  usual 
heartiness,  —  '  Don't  overcharge  your  stomach 
to-night.' 

" '  Why,  I  always  sleep  best  after  a  hearty 
supper,'  replied  the  Dauphin,  with  the  greatest 
coolness. 

"  The  supper  being  ended,  he  accompanied 
his  Dauphiness  to  her  chamber,  and  at  the  door, 
with  the  greatest  politeness,  wished  her  a  good 


CHAPTER   II  49 

night.  Next  morning,  upon  his  saying,  .when 
he  met  her  at  breakfast,  that  he  hoped  she  had 
slept  well,  Maria  Antoinette  replied,  '  Excellently 
well,  for  I  had  no  one  to  disturb  me  ! ' 

"  The  Princess  de  Guemenee,  who  was  then 
at  the  head  of  the  household,  on  hearing  the 
Dauphiness  moving  very  early  in  her  apartment, 
ventured  to  enter  it,  and  not  seeing  the  Dauphin, 
exclaimed,  '  Bless  me !  he  is  risen  as  usual ! ' 
'  Whom  do  you  mean  ?  '  asked  Maria  Antoinette. 
The  Princess  misconstruing  the  interrogation, 
was  going  to  retire,  when  the  Dauphiness  said, 
'  I  have  heard  a  great  deal  of  French  politeness, 
but  I  think  I  am  married  to  the  most  polite  of  the 
nation  ! '  '  What,  then,  he  is  risen  ?  '  '  No,  no, 
no  ! '  exclaimed  the  Dauphiness,  '  there  has  been 
no  rising;  he  has  never  lain  down  here.  He 
left  me  at  the  door  of  my  apartment  with  his 
hat  in  his  hand,  and  hastened  from  me  as  if 
embarrassed  with  my  person  1 ' 

"After  Maria  Antoinette  became  a  mother 
she  would  often  laugh  and  tell  Louis  XVI.  of  his 
bridal  politeness,  and  ask  him  if  in  the  interim 

between    that    and    the    consummation    he    had 
VOL.  i  4 


50  CHAPTER   II 

studied  his  maiden  aunts  or  his  tutor  on  the  sub- 
ject.    On  this  he  would  laugh  most  excessively. 

"  Scarcely  was  Maria  Antoinette  seated  in  her 
new  country  before  the  virulence  of  Court  intrigue 
against  her  became  active.  She  was  beset  on  all 
sides  by  enemies  open  and  concealed,  who  never 
slackened  their  persecutions.  All  the  family  of 
Louis  XV.  consisting  of  those  maiden  aunts  of  the 
Dauphin  just  adverted  to  (among  whom  Madame 
Adelaide  was  specially  implacable)  were  incensed 
at  the  marriage,  not  only  from  their  hatred  to 
Austria,  but  because  it  had  accomplished  the 
ambition  of  an  obnoxious  favourite  to  give  a  wife 
to  the  Dauphin  of  their  kingdom.  On  the  credu- 
lous and  timid  mind  of  the  Prince,  then  in  the 
leading  strings  of  this  pious  sisterhood,  they  im- 
pressed the  misfortunes  to  his  country  and  to  the 
interest  of  the  Bourbon  family,  which  must  spring 
from  the  Austrian  influence  through  the  medium 
of  his  bride.  No  means  were  left  unessayed  to 
steel  him  against  her  sway.  I  remember  once  to 
have  heard  her  Majesty  remark  to  Louis  XVI.  in 
answer  to  some  particular  observations  he  made, 
'These,  sire,  are  the  sentiments  of  our  aunts,  I 


CHAPTER    II  51 

am  sure.'  And  indeed  great  must  have  been  their 
ascendancy  over  him  in  youth,  for  up  to  a  late 
date  he  entertained  a  very  high  respect  for  their 
capacity  and  judgment.  Great  indeed  must  it  have 
been  to  have  prevailed  against  all  the  seducing 
allurements  of  a  beautiful  and  fascinating  young 
bride,  whose  amiableness,  vivacity,  and  wit  be- 
came the  universal  admiration,  and  whose  grace- 
ful manner  of  address  few  ever  equalled  and 
none  ever  surpassed;  nay,  even  so  to  have 
prevailed  as  to  form  one  of  the  great  sources  of 
his  aversion  to  consummate  the  marriage  !  Since 
the  death  of  the  late  Queen,  their  mother,  these 
four  Princesses  (who,  it  was  said,  if  old  maids, 
were  not  so  from  choice)  had  received  and  per- 
formed the  exclusive  honours  of  the  Court.  It 
could  not  have  diminished  their  dislike  for  the 
young  and  lovely  new-comer  to  see  themselves 
under  the  necessity  of  abandoning  their  dignities 
and  giving  up  their  station.  So  eager  were  they 
to  contrive  themes  of  complaint  against  her,  that 
when  she  visited  them  in  the  simple  attire  in  which 
she  so  much  delighted,  sans  ceremonie,  unaccom- 
panied by  a  troop  of  horse  and  a  squadron  of  foot- 

4—2 


52  CHAPTER   II 

guards,  they  complained  to  their  father,  who  hinted 
to  Maria  Antoinette  that  such  a  relaxation  of  the 
royal  dignity  would  be  attended  with  considerable 
injury  to  French  manufactures,  to  trade,  and  to 
the  respect  due  to  her  rank.  *  My  State  and  Court 
dresses,'  replied  she,  *  shall  not  be  less  brilliant 
than  those  of  any  former  Dauphiness  or  Queen  of 
France,  if  such  be  the  pleasure  of  the  King, — but 
to  my  grand-papa  I  appeal  for  some  indulgence 
with  respect  to  my  undress  private  costume  of  the 
morning.1' 

"  It  was  dangerous  for  one  in  whose  conduct 
so  many  prying  eyes  were  seeking  for  sources  of 
accusation  to  gratify  herself  even  by  the  overthrow 
of  an  absurdity,  when  that  overthrow  might  incur 
the  stigma  of  innovation.  The  Court  of  Versailles 
was  jealous  of  its  Spanish  inquisitorial  etiquette. 
It  had  been  strictly  wedded  to  its  pageantries  since 
the  time  of  the  great  Anne  of  Austria.  The  saga- 
cious and  prudent  provisions  of  this  illustrious 
contriver  were  deemed  the  ne  plus  ultra,  of  royal 

i  Trifling,  however,  as  Maria  Antoinette  deemed  these 
cavils  about  dress  and  etiquette,  they  contained  the  elements 
of  her  future  fall. 


CHAPTER    II  53 

female  policy.  A  cargo  of  whalebone  was  yearly 
obtained  by  her  to  construct  such  stays  for  the 
maids  of  honour  as  might  adequately  conceal  the 
Court  accidents  which  generally — poor  ladies!— 
befell  them  in  rotation  every  nine  months. 

"  But  Maria  Antoinette  could  not  sacrifice 
her  predilection  for  a  simplicity  quite  English, 
to  prudential  considerations.  Indeed  she  was  too 
young  to  conceive  it  even  desirable.  So  much 
did  she  delight  in  being  unshackled  by  finery 
that  she  would  hurry  from  Court  to  fling  off 
her  royal  robes  and  ornaments,  exclaiming,  when 
freed  from  them,  'Thank  Heaven,  I  am  out  of 
harness ! ' 

"  But  she  had  natural  advantages,  which  gave 
her  enemies  a  pretext  for  ascribing  this  antipathy 
to  the  established  fashion  to  mere  vanity.  It  is 
not  impossible  that  she  might  have  derived  some 
pleasure  from  displaying  a  figure  so  beautiful, 
with  no  adornment  except  its  native  gracefulness; 
but  how  great  must  have  been  the  chagrin  ot 
the  Princesses,  of  many  of  the  Court  ladies, 
indeed  of  all  in  any  way  ungainly  or  deformed, 
when  called  to  exhibit  themselves  by  the  side  of 


54  CHAPTER   II 

a  bewitching  person  like  hers,  unaided  by  the 
whalebone  and  horse-hair  paddings  with  which 
they  had  hitherto  been  made  up,  and  which  placed 
the  best  form  on  a  level  with  the  worst  ?  The 
prudes  who  practised  illicitly,  and  felt  the  con- 
venience of  a  guise  which  so  well  concealed  the 
effect  of  their  frailties,  were  neither  the  least 
formidable  nor  the  least  numerous  of  the  enemies 
created  by  this  revolution  of  costume ;  and  the 
Dauphiness  was  voted  by  common  consent — for 
what  greater  crime  could  there  be  in  France  ? 
— the  heretic  Martin  Luther  of  female  fashions  ! 
The  four  Princesses,  her  aunts,  were  as  bitter 
against  the  disrespect  with  which  the  Dauphiness 
treated  the  armour,  which  they  called  dress,  as 
if  they  themselves  had  benefited  by  the  im- 
munities it  could  confer. 

"  Indeed,  most  of  the  old  Court  ladies  em- 
battled themselves  against  Maria  Antoinette's  en- 
croachments upon  their  habits.  The  leader  of 
them  was  a  real  medallion,  whose  costume,  char- 
acter and  notions,  spoke  a  genealogy  perfectly 
antediluvian;  who  even  to  the  latter  days  of 
Louis  XV.,  amid  a  Court  so  irregular,  persisted 


CHAPTER    II  55 

in  her  precision.  So  systematic  a  supporter  of  the 
antique  could  be  no  other  than  the  declared  foe  of 
any  change,  and,  of  course,  deemed  the  desertion 
of  large  sack  gowns,  monstrous  Court  hoops,  and 
the  old  notions  of  appendages  attached  to  them, 
for  tight  waists  and  short  petticoats,  an  awful 
demonstration  of  the  depravity  of  the  time  1  1 

"This  lady  had  been  first  lady  to  the  sole 
Queen  of  Louis  XV.  She  was  retained  in  the 
same  station  for  Maria  Antoinette.  Her  motions 
were  regulated  like  clock-work.  So  methodical 
was  she  in  all  her  operations  of  mind  and  body, 
that,  from  the  beginning  of  the  year  to  its  end, 
she  never  deviated  a  moment.  Every  hour  had 
its  peculiar  occupation.  Her  element  was  etiquette, 
but  the  etiquette  of  ages  before  the  flood.  She 
had  her  rules  even  for  the  width  of  petticoats  that 
the  Queens  and  Princesses  might  have  no  tempta- 
tion to  straddle  over  a  rivulet,  or  crossing,  of  un- 
royal size. 

"  The  Queen  of  Louis  XV.  having  been  totally 
subservient  in  her  movements  night  and  day  to 

i  The  editor  needs  scarcely  add,  that  the  allusion  of  the 
princess  is  to  Madame  de  Noailles. 


56  CHAPTER   II 

the  wishes  of  the  Countess  de  Noailles,  it  will  be 
readily  conceived,  how  great  a  shock  this  lady 
must  have  sustained  on  being  informed  one  morn- 
ing, that  the  Dauphiness  had  actually  risen  in  the 
night,  and  her  ladyship  not  by  to  witness  a 
ceremony  from  which  most  ladies  would  have 
felt  no  little  pleasure  in  being  spared,  but  which, 
on  this  occasion,  admitted  of  no  delay  !  Notwith- 
standing the  Dauphiness  excused  herself  by  the 
assurance  of  the  urgency  allowing  no  time  to  call 
the  Countess,  she  nearly  fainted  at  not  having  been 
present  at  that,  which  others  sometimes  faint  at, 
if  too  near ! — This  unaccustomed  watchfulness  so 
annoyed  Maria  Antoinette,  that,  determined  to 
laugh  her  out  of  it,  she  ordered  an  immense  bottle 
of  hartshorn  to  be  placed  upon  her  toilette.  Being 
asked  what  use  was  to  be  made  of  the  hartshorn, 
she  said  it  was  to  prevent  her  first  lady  of  honour 
from  falling  into  hysterics  when  the  calls  of  nature 
were  uncivil  enough  to  exclude  her  from  being  of 
the  party.  This,  as  may  be  presumed,  had  its 
desired  effect,  and  Maria  Antoinette  was  ever 
afterwards  allowed  free  access  at  least  to  one  of 
her  apartments,  and  leave  to  perform  that  in 


CHAPTER  n  57 

private  which  few  individuals  except  Princesses  do 
with  parade  and  publicity. 

"These  things,  however,  planted  the  seeds  of 
rancour  against  Maria  Antoinette,  which  Madame 
de  Noailles  carried  with  her  to  the  grave.  It  will 
be  seen  that  she  declared  against  her  at  a  crisis 
of  great  importance.  The  laughable  title  of 
Madame  Etiquette,  which  the  Dauphiness  gave 
her,  clung  to  her  through  life  ;  and,  though  con- 
ferred only  in  merriment,  it  never  was  forgiven. 

"  The  Dauphiness  seemed  to  be  under  a  sort 
of  fatality  with  regard  to  all  those  who  had  any 
power  of  doing  her  mischief  either  with  her  hus- 
band or  the  Court.  The  Duke  de  Vauguyon,  the 
Dauphin's  tutor,  who  both  from  principle  and 
interest  hated  everything  Austrian  and  anything 
whatever  which  threatened  to  lessen  his  despotic 
influence  so  long  exercised  over  the  mind  of  his 
pupil,  which  he  foresaw  would  be  endangered  were 
the  Prince  once  out  of  his  leading-strings  and 
swayed  by  a  young  wife,  made  use  of  all  the 
influence  which  old  courtiers  can  command  over 
the  minds  they  have  formed  (more  generally  for 
their  own  ends  than  those  of  uprightness)  to 


53 

poison  that  of  the  young  Prince  against  his  bricle. 
"  Never  were  there  more  intrigues  among  the 
female  slaves  in  the  Seraglio  of  Constantinople 
for  the  Grand  Signior's  handkerchief  than  were 
continually  harassing  one  party  against  the  other 
at  the  Court  of  Versailles.  The  Dauphiness  was 
even  attacked  through  her  own  tutor,  the  Abb6 
Vermond.  A  cabal  was  got  up  between  the 
Abbe  and  Madame  Marsan,  instructress  of  the 
sisters  of  Louis  XVI.  (the  Princesses  Clotilda  and 
Elizabeth)  upon  the  subject  of  education.  Nothing 
grew  out  of  this  affair  excepting  a  new  stimulus  to 
the  party  spirit  against  the  Austrian  influence,  or, 
in  other  words,  the  Austrian  Princess ;  and  such 
was  probably  itc  purpose.  Of  course  every  trifle 
becomes  Court  tattle.  This  was  made  a  mighty 
business  of,  for  want  of  a  worse.  The  royal  aunts 
naturally  took  the  part  of  Madame  Marsan.  They 
maintained  that  their  royal  nieces,  the  French 
Princesses,  were  much  better  educated  than  the 
German  Arch-duchesses  had  been  by  the  Austrian 
Empress.  They  attempted  to  found  their  assertion 
upon  the  embonpoint  of  the  French  Princesses. 
They  said  that  their  nieces,  by  the  exercise  of 


CHAPTER    II  59 

religious  principles,  obtained  the  advantage  of  solid 
flesh,  while  the  Austrian  Arch-duchesses,  by  wasting 
themselves  in  idleness  and  profane  pursuits,  grew 
thin  and  meagre,  and  were  equally  exhausted  in  their 
minds  and  bodies!— At  this  the  Abbe"  Vermond, 
as  the  tutor  of  Maria  Antoinette,  felt  himself 
highly  offended,  and  called  on  Count  de  Mercy, 
then  the  Imperial  Ambassador,  to  apprize  him 
of  the  insult  the  Empire  had  received  over  the 
shoulders  of  the  Dauphiness's  tutor.  The  Ambas- 
sador gravely  replied  that  he  should  certainly  send 
off  a  courier  immediately  to  Vienna  to  inform  the 
Empress  that  the  only  fault  the  French  Court 
could  find  with  Maria  Antoinette  was  her  being 
not  so  unwieldy  as  their  own  Princesses,  and 
bringing  charms  with  her  to  a  bridegroom,  on 
whom  even  charms  so  transcendent  could  make 
no  impression  ! — Thus  the  matter  was  laughed  off, 
but  it  left,  ridiculous  as  it  was,  new  bitter 
enemies  to  the  cause  01  the  illustrious  stranger. 
"  The  new  favourite,  Madame  du  Barry, 
whose  sway  was  now  supreme,  was  of  course 
joined  by  the  whole  vitiated  intriguing  Court  of 
Versailles.  —  The  King's  favourite  is  always  that 


60  CHAPTER   II 

of  his  parasites,  however  degraded.  The  politics 
of  the  Pompadour  party  were  still  feared,  though 
Pompadour  herself  was  no  more,  for  Choiseul  had 
friends  who  were  still  active  in  his  behalf.  The 
power  which  had  been  raised  to  crush  the  power 
that  was  still  struggling,  formed  a  rallying  point 
for  those  who  hated  Austria,  which  the  deposed 
ministry  had  supported ;  and  even  the  King's 
daughters,  much  as  they  abhorred  the  vulgarity  of 
Du  Barry,  were  led,  by  dislike  for  the  Dauphiness, 
to  pay  their  devotions  to  their  father's  mistress. 
The  influence  of  the  rising  sun,  Maria  Antoinette, 
whose  beauteous  rays  of  blooming  youth  warmed 
every  heart  in  her  favour,  was  feared  by  the  new 
favourite  as  well  as  by  the  old  maidens.  Louis  XV. 
had  already  expressed  a  sufficient  interest  for  the 
friendless  royal  stranger  to  awaken  the  jealousy  of 
Du  Barry,  and  she  was  as  little  disposed  to  share 
the  King's  affections  with  another,  as  his  daughters 
were  to  welcome  a  future  Queen  from  Austria  in 
their  palace.  Mortified  at  the  attachment  the  King 
daily  evinced,  she  strained  every  nerve  to  raise  a 
party  to  destroy  his  predilections.  She  called  to 
her  aid  the  strength  of  ridicule,  than  which  no 


CHAPTER   II  6l 

weapon  is  more  false  or  deadly.  She  laughed  at 
qualities  she  could  not  comprehend,  and  under- 
rated what  she  could  not  imitate.  The  Duke  de 
Richelieu,  who  had  been  instrumental  to  her  good 
fortune,  and  for  whom  (remembering  the  old  adage : 
when  one  hand  washes  the  other  both  are  made  clean), 
she  procured  the  command  of  the  army — this  duke, 
the  triumphant  general  of  Mahon  and  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  noblemen  of  France,  did  not 
blush  to  become  the  secret  agent  of  a  depraved 
meretrix  in  the  conspiracy  to  blacken  the  character 
of  her  victim  !  The  Princesses,  of  course,  joined  the 
jealous  Phryne  against  their  niece,  the  daughter  of 
the  Caesars,  whose  only  faults  were  those  of  nature, 
for  at  that  time  she  could  have  no  other  excepting 
those  personal  perfections — which  were  the  main 
source  of  all  their  malice.  By  one  considered  as 
an  usurper,  by  the  others  as  an  intruder,  botl.  were 
in  consequence  industrious  in  the  quiet  work  of 
ruin  by  whispers  and  detraction. 

"To  an  impolitic  act  of  the  Dauphiness  her- 
self may  be  in 'part  ascribed  the  unwonted  virulence 
of  the  jealousy  and  resentment  of  Du  Barry.  The 
old  dotard,  Louis  XV.,  was  so  indelicate  as  to  have 


62  CHAPTER    II 

her  present  at  the  first  supper  of  the  Dauphiness 
at  Versailles.  Madame  la  Mareschale  de  Beaumond, 
the  Duchess  de  Choiseul,  and  the  Duchess  de 
Grammont  were  there  also ;  but  upon  the  favourite 
taking  her  seat  at  table  they  expressed  themselves 
very  freely  to  Louis  XV.  respecting  the  insult 
they  conceived  offered  to  the  young  Dauphiness, 
left  the  royal  party,  and  never  appeared  again  at 
Court  till  after  the  King's  death.  In  consequence 
of  this  scene,  Maria  Antoinette,  at  the  instigation 
of  the  Abbe"  Vermond,  wrote  to  her  mother,  the 
Empress,  complaining  of  the  slight  put  upon  her 
rank,  birth,  and  dignity,  and  requesting  the  Empress 
would  signify  her  displeasure  to  the  Court  of  France 
as  she  had  done  to  that  of  Spain  on  a  similar 
occasion  in  favour  of  her  sister  the  Queen  of 
Naples. 

"This  letter,  which  was  intercepted,  got  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  Court  and  excited  some 
clamour.  To  say  the  worst,  it  could  only  be  looked 
upon  as  an  ebullition  of  the  folly  of  youth.  But 
insignificant  as  such  matters  were  in  fact,  malignity 
converted  them  into  the  locust,  which  destroyed 
the  fruit  she  was  sent  to  cultivate. 


CHAPTER    II  63 

"  Maria  Theresa,  like  the  old  fox,  too  true  to 
her  system  to  retract  the  policy,  which  formerly 
laid  her  open  to  the  criticism  of  all  the  civilised 
Courts  of  Europe  for  opening  the  correspondence 
with  Pompadour,  to  whose  influence  she  owed  her 
daughter's  footing  in  France — a  correspondence 
whereby  she  degraded  the  dignity  of  her  sex  and 
the  honour  of  her  crown — and  at  the  same  time 
suspecting  that  it  was  not  her  daughter,  but  Ver- 
mond,  from  private  motives,  who  complained,  wrote 
the  following  laconic  reply  to  the  remonstrance: — 

"'Where  the  sovereign  himself  presides,  no 
guest  can  be  exceptionable." 

"  Such  sentiments  are  very  much  in  contra- 
diction with  the  character  of  Maria  Theresa.  She 
was  always  solicitous  to  impress  the  world  with 
her  high  notion  of  moral  rectitude.  Certainly, 
such  advice,  however  politic,  ought  not  to  have 
proceeded  from  a  mother  so  religious  as  Maria 
Theresa  wished  herself  to  be  thought ;  especially 
to  a  young  Princess  who,  though  enthusiastically 
fond  of  admiration,  at  least  had  discretion  to  see 
and  feel  the  impropriety  of  her  being  degraded  to 
the  level  of  a  female  like  Du  Barry,  and,  withal, 


64  CHAPTER    II 

courage  to  avow  it.  This,  of  itself,  was  quite 
enough  to  shake  the  virtue  of  Maria  Antoinette ; 
or,  at  least,  Maria  Theresa's  letter  was  of  a  cast 
to  make  her  callous  to  the  observance  of  all  its 
scruples.  And  in  that  vitiated,  depraved  Court, 
she  too  soon,  unfortunately,  took  the  hint  of  her 
maternal  counsellor  in  not  only  tolerating,  but 
imitating,  the  object  she  despised.  Being  one  day 
told  that  Du  Barry  was  the  person  who  most 
contributed  to  amuse  Louis  XV. — *  Then,'  said 
she,  innocently,  '  I  declare  myself  her  rival ;  for 
I  will  try  who  can  best  amuse  my  grandpapa 
for  the  future.  I  will  exert  all  my  powers  to 
please  and  divert  him,  and  then  we  shall  see  who 
can  best  succeed.' 

"  Du  Barry  was  by  when  this  was  said,  and 
she  never  forgave  it.  To  this,  and  to  the  letter, 
her  rancour  may  principally  be  ascribed.  To  all 
those  of  the  Court  party  who  owed  their  places 
and  preferments  to  her  exclusive  influence  and 
who  held  them  subject  to  her  caprice,  she,  of 
course,  communicated  the  venom. 

"  Meanwhile,  the  Dauphin  saw  Maria  Antoinette 
mimicking  the  monkey  tricks  with  which  this  low 


CHAPTER   II  65 

Sultana  amused  her  dotard,  without  being  aware 
of  the  cause.  He  was  not  pleased  ;  and  this 
circumstance,  coupled  with  his  natural  coolness 
and  indifference  for  an  union  he  had  been  taught 
to  deem  impolitic  and  dangerous  to  the  interests  of 
France,  created  in  his  virtuous  mind  that  sort 
of  disgust  which  remained  so  long  an  enigma  to 
the  Court  and  all  the  kingdom,  excepting  his 
royal  aunts,  who  did  the  best  they  could  to  con- 
firm it  into  so  decided  an  aversion  as  might 
induce  him  to  impel  his  grandfather  to  annul 
the  marriage  and  send  the  Dauphiness  back 
to  Vienna." 


The  execution  of  this  diabolical  scheme,  with 
many  others  of  a  similar  nature,  was  only  pre- 
vented by  the  death  of  Louis  XV.  They  are  not 
treated  by  the  Princess  here,  but  will  be  found 
explained  by  her  in  their  proper  place.  She 
seems  to  feel  as  if  she  had  already  outrun  her 
story,  and  therefore  returns  a  little  upon  her  steps. 
The  manuscript  continues  thus : 

"After    the    Dauphin's    marriage,    the    Count 
VOL.  i  5 


66  CHAPTER   II 

d'Artois  and  his  brother  Monsieur1  returned  from 
their  travels  to  Versailles.  The  former  was 
delighted  with  the  young  Dauphiness,  and,  seeing 
her  so  decidedly  neglected  by  her  husband,  endea- 
voured to  console  her  by  a  marked  attention, 
but  for  which  she  would  have  been  totally 
isolated,  for,  excepting  the  old  King,  who  became 
more  and  more  enraptured  with  the  grace,  beauty, 
and  vivacity  of  his  young  grand  -  daughter,  not 
another  individual  in  the  royal  family  was  really 
interested  in  her  favour.  The  kindness  of  a 
personage  so  important  was  of  too  much  weight 
not  to  awaken  calumny.  It  was,  of  course, 
endeavoured  to  be  turned  against  her.  Possi- 
bilities, and  even  probabilities,  conspired  to  give 
a  pretext  for  the  scandal  which  already  began 
to  be  whispered  about  the  Dauphiness  and 
d'Artois.  It  would  have  been  no  wonder  had  a 
reciprocal  attachment  arisen  between  a  virgin  wife, 
so  long  neglected  by  her  husband,  and  one  whose 
congeniality  of  character  pointed  him  out  as  a 
more  desirable  partner  than  the  Dauphin.  But 

i  Afterwards  Louis  XVIII.,  and  the  former  the  present 
Charles  X. 


CHAPTER    II  67 

there  is  abundant  evidence  of  the  perfect  innocence 
of  their  intercourse.  Du  Barry  was  most  earnest 
in  endeavouring,  from  first  to  last,  to  establish  its 
impurity,  because  the  Dauphiness  induced  the  gay 
young  Prince  to  join  in  all  her  girlish  schemes  to 
tease  and  circumvent  the  favourite.  But  when 
this  young  Prince  and  his  brother  were  married 
to  the  two  Princesses  of  Piedmont,  the  intimacy 
between  their  brides  and  the  Dauphiness  proved 
there  could  have  been  no  doubt  that  Du  Barry 
had  invented  a  calumny,  and  that  no  feeling 
existed  but  one  altogether  sisterly.  The  three 
stranger  Princesses  were  indeed  inseparable ;  and 
these  marriages,  with  that  of  the  French  Princess, 
Clotilda,  to  the  Prince  of  Piedmont,  created  con- 
siderable changes  in  the  coteries  of  Court. 

"  The  machinations  against  Maria  Antoinette 
could  not  be  concealed  from  the  Empress-mother. 
An  extraordinary  ambassador  was  consequently 
sent  from  Vienna  to  complain  of  them  to  the 
Court  of  Versailles,  with  directions  that  the 
remonstrance  should  be  supported  and  backed  by 
the  Count  de  Mercy,  then  Austrian  ambassador  at 

the   Court   of  France.      Louis   XV.   was  the   only 

5-2 


68  CHAPTER    II 

person  to  whom  the  communication  was  news. 
This  old  dilettanti  of  the  sex  was  so  much  engaged 
between  his  seraglio  of  the  Pare  aux  cerfs  and 
Du  Barry,  that  he  knew  less  of  what  was  passing 
in  his  palace  than  those  at  Constantinople.  On 
being  informed  by  the  Austrian  ambassador,  he 
sent  an  ambassador  of  his  own  to  Vienna  to  assure 
the  Empress  that  he  was  perfectly  satisfied  of 
the  innocent  conduct  of  his  newly  acquired  grand- 
daughter. 

"Among  the  intrigues  within  intrigues  of  the 
time  I  mention,  there  was  one  which  shows  that 
perhaps  Du  Barry's  distrust  of  the  constancy  of 
her  paramour,  and  apprehension  from  the  effect 
on  him  of  the  charms  of  the  Dauphiness,  in  whom 
he  became  daily  more  interested,  were  not  utterly 
without  foundation.  In  this  instance  even  her 
friend  the  Duke  de  Richelieu,  that  notorious 
seducer,  by  lending  himself  to  the  secret  purposes 
of  the  King,  became  a  traitor  to  the  cause  of  the 
King's  favourite,  to  which  he  had  sworn  allegiance, 
and  which  he  had  supported  by  defaming  her  whom 
he  now  became  anxious  to  make  his  Queen. 

"  It   has   already   been   said,  that   the   famous 


CHAPTER    II  69 

Duchess  de  Grammont  was  one  of  the  confidential 
friends  of  Louis  XV.  before  he  took  Du  Barry 
under  his  especial  protection.  Oi  course,  there 
can  be  no  difficulty  in  conceiving  how  likely  a 
person  she  would  be,  to  aid  any  purpose  of  the 
King,  which  should  displace  the  favourite,  by  whom 
she  herself  had  been  obliged  to  retire,  by  ties  of 
a  higher  order,  to  which  she  might  prove  instru- 
mental. 

"  Louis  XV.  actually  flattered  himself  with  the 
hope  of  obtaining  advantages  from  the  Dauphin's 
coolness  towards  the  Dauphiness.  He  encouraged 
it,  and  even  threw  many  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
the  consummation  of  the  marriage.  The  apart- 
ments of  the  young  couple  were  placed  at  opposite 
ends  of  the  palace,  so  that  the  Dauphin  could  not 
approach  that  of  his  Dauphiness  without  a  pub- 
licity, which  his  bashfulness  could  not  brook. 

"Louis  XV  now  began  to  act  upon  his  secret 
passion  to  supplant  his  grandson,  and  make  the 
Dauphiness  his  own  Queen,  by  endeavouring  to 
secure  her  affections  to  himself.  His  attentions 
were  backed  by  gifts  of  diamonds,  pearls,  and  other 
valuables,  and  it  was  at  this  period  that  Boehmer, 


70  CHAPTER   II 

the  jeweller,  first  received  the  order  for  that  famous 
necklace,  which  subsequently  produced  such  dread- 
ful consequences,  and  which  was  originally  meant 
as  a  kingly  present  to  the  intended  Queen ;  though 
afterwards  destined  for  Du  Barry,  had  not  the  King 
died  before  the  completion  of  the  bargain  for  it. 

"  The  Queen  herself  one  day  told  me,  '  Heaven 
knows  if  ever  I  should  have  had  the  blessing  of 
being  a  mother,  had  I  not  one  evening  surprised 
the  Dauphin,  when  the  subject  was  adverted  to, 
in  the  expression  of  a  sort  of  regret  at  our  being 
placed  so  far  asunder  from  each  other.  Indeed 
he  never  honoured  me  with  any  proof  of  his 
affection  so  explicit  as  that  you  have  just  witnessed ' 
— for  the  King  had  that  moment  kissed  her,  as 
he  left  the  apartment — 'from  the  time  of  our 
marriage  till  the  consummation.  The  most  I 
ever  received  from  him  was  a  squeeze  of  the 
hand  in  secret.  His  extreme  modesty,  and 
perhaps  his  utter  ignorance  of  the  intercourse 
with  woman,  dreaded  the  exposure  of  crossing 
the  palace  to  my  bed-chamber;  and  no  doubt  the 
accomplishment  would  have  occurred  sooner,  could 
it  have  been  effectuated  in  privacy.  The  hint  he 


CHAPTER    II  71 

gave  emboldened  me  with  courage,  when  he  next 
left  me,  as  usual,  at  the  door  of  my  apartment, 
to  mention  it  to  the  Duchess  of  Grammont,  then 
the  confidential  friend  of  Louis  XV.,  who  laughed 
me  almost  out  of  countenance ;  saying,  in  her  gay 
manner  of  expressing  herself,  '//  I  were  as  young 
and  as  beautiful  a  wife  as  you  are  I  should  cer- 
tainly not  trouble  myself  to  remove  the  obstacle  by 
going  to  him  while  there  were  others  of  superior 
rank  ready  to  supply  his  place.'  Before  she 
quitted  me,  however,  she  said  :  '  Well,  child, 
make  yourself  easy :  you  shall  no  longer  be 
separated  from  the  object  of  your  wishes  :  I  will 
mention  it  to  the  King,  your  grandpapa,  and  he 
will  soon  order  your  husband's  apartment  to  be 
changed  for  one  nearer  your  own.'  And  the 
change  shortly  afterwards  took  place.1 

i  The  Dauphiness  could  not  understand  the  first  allusion 
of  the  Duchess ;  but  it  is  evident  that  the  vile  intriguer  took 
this  opportunity  of  sounding  her  upon  what  she  was  com- 
missioned to  carry  on  in  favour  of  Louis  XV.  and  it  is 
equally  apparent  that  when  she  heard  Maria  Antoinette 
express  herself  decidedly  in  favour  of  her  young  husband, 
and  distinctly  saw  how  utterly  groundless  were  the  hopes 
of  his  secret  rival,  she  was  led  thereby  to  abandon  her 
wicked  project ;  and  perhaps  the  change  of  apartments  was 
the  best  mask  that  could  have  been  devised  to  hide  the 
villainy. 


72  CHAPTER   II 

" '  Here,'  continued  the  Queen,  '  I  accuse 
myself  of  a  want  of  that  courage  which  every 
virtuous  wife  ought  to  exercise  in  not  having 
complained  of  the  visible  neglect  shown  me  long, 
long  before  I  did ;  for  this,  perhaps,  would  have 
spared  both  of  us  the  many  bitter  pangs  originating 
in  the  seeming  coldness,  whence  have  arisen  all 
the  scandalous  stories  against  my  character — which 
have  often  interrupted  the  full  enjoyment  I  should 
have  felt,  had  they  not  made  me  tremble  for  the 
security  of  that  attachment,  of  which  I  had  so  many 
proofs,  and  which  formed  my  only  consolation  amid 
all  the  malice,  that  for  years  has  been  endeavouring 
to  deprive  me  of  it !  So  far  as  regards  my  hus- 
band's estimation,  thank  fate,  I  have  defied  their 
wickedness  !  Would  to  Heaven  I  could  have  been 
equally  secure  in  the  estimation  of  my  people — 
the  object  nearest  to  my  heart,  after  the  King  and 
my  dear  children  ! ' 

"  The  present  period  appears  to  have  been 
one  of  the  happiest  of  the  life  of  Maria  Antoinette. 
Her  intimate  society  consisted  of  the  King's 
brothers,  and  their  Princesses,  with  the  King's 
saint-like  sister  Elizabeth ;  and  they  lived  entirely 


CHAPTER    II  73 

together,  excepting  when  the  Dauphiness  dined  in 
public.  These  ties  seemed  to  be  drawn  daily 
closer  for  some  time,  till  the  subsequent  intimacy 
with  the  Polignacs.  Even  when  the  Countess 
d'Artois  lay-in,  the  Dauphiness,  then  become 
Queen,  transferred  her  parties  to  the  apartments 
of  that  Princess,  rather  than  lose  the  gratification 
of  her  society. 

"  During  all  this  time,  however,  Du  Barry, 
the  Duke  d'Aiguillon,  and  the  aunts-Princesses, 
took  special  care  to  keep  themselves  between  her 
and  any  tenderness  on  the  part  of  the  husband 
Dauphin,  and,  from  different  motives  uniting  in 
one  end,  tried  every  means  to  get  the  object  of 
their  hatred  sent  back  to  Vienna." 


CHAPTER  III 

JOURNAL  CONTINUED  MARIA      THERESA  —  CARDINAL      DE 

ROHAN — EMPRESS  INDUCED  BY  HIM  TO  SEND  SPIES 
TO  FRANCE — MARIA  ANTOINETTE  DISLIKES  MEDDLING 

WITH     POLITICS DEEP     GAME     OF     DE     ROHAN  —  SPIES 

SENT  TO  FRANCE,  UNKNOWN  TO  THE  CARDINAL,  TO 
DISCOVER  HOW  FAR  HIS  REPRESENTATIONS  ARE  TO  BE 
TRUSTED — SHE  FINDS  HE  HAS  DECEIVED  HER,  AND 

RESENTS      IT HE      FALLS      IN      LOVE       WITH       MARIA 

ANTOINETTE BETRAYS  HER  TO  HER  MOTHER — INDIG- 
NATION OF  MARIA  ANTOINETTE  ON  THE  OCCASION — 
HE  SUGGESTS  THE  MARRIAGE  OF  MARIA  ANTOINETTE'S 

SISTER     WITH      LOUIS     XV.  HIS     DOUBLE      INTRIGUES 

WITH  THE  TWO  COURTS  OF  FRANCE  AND  AUSTRIA — 
LOUIS  XV.  DIES — ROHAN  DISGRACED 

"THE  Empress-mother  was  thoroughly  aware 
of  all  that  was  going  on.  Her  anxiety,  not  only 
about  her  daughter,  but  her  State  policy,  which  it 
may  be  apprehended  was  in  her  mind  the  stronger 
motive  of  the  two,  encouraged  the  machinations 
of  an  individual  who  must  now  appear  upon  the 
stage  of  action,  and  to  whose  arts  may  be  ascribed 
the  worst  of  the  sufferings  of  Maria  Antoinette. 


CHAPTER    III  75 

"  I  allude  to  the  Cardinal  Prince  de  Rohan. 

• 

"  At  this  time  he  was  Ambassador  at  the 
Court  of  Vienna.  The  reliance  the  Empress  placed 
on  him1  favoured  his  criminal  machinations  against 
her  daughter's  reputation.  He  was  the  cause  of 
her  sending  spies  to  watch  the  conduct  of  the 
Dauphiness,  besides  a  list  of  persons  proper  for 
her  to  cultivate,  as  well  as  of  those  it  was  deemed 
desirable  for  her  to  exclude  from  her  confidence. 

"  As  the  Empress  knew  all  those  who,  though 
high  in  office  in  Versailles,  secretly  received  pen- 
sions from  Vienna,  she  could,  of  course,  tell  without 
much  expense  of  sagacity,  who  were  in  the  Austrian 
interest.  The  Dauphiness  was  warned  that  she 
was  surrounded  by  persons  who  were  not  her 
friends. 

"  The  conduct  of  Maria  Theresa  towards  her 
daughter  the  Queen  of  Naples2  will  sufficiently 
explain  how  much  the  Empress  must  have  been 

1  Madame  Campan  (vol.  i.  page  42)  is  very  much  in  the 
dark  on  this  subject  and  totally  misinformed.    The  Cardinal 
de  Rohan  did  not  become  obnoxious  to  Maria  Theresa  till 
it  was  discovered  that  he  had  abused  her  confidence  and 
betrayed  that  of  her  ministers. — Ed. 

2  See  page  28. 


76  CHAPTER    III 

chagrined  at  the  absolute  indifference  of  Maria 
Antoinette  to  the  State  policy,  which  was  in- 
tended to  have  been  served  in  sending  her  to 
France.  A  less  fitting  instrument  for  the  purpose 
could  not  have  been  selected  by  the  mother. 
Maria  Antoinette  had  much  less  of  the  politician 
about  her  than  either  of  her  surviving  sisters ; 
and  so  much  was  she  addicted  to  amusement, 
that  she  never  even  thought  of  entering  into  State 
affairs  till  forced  by  the  King's  neglect  of  his 
most  essential  prerogatives  and  called  upon  by  the 
ministers  themselves  to  screen  them  from  responsi- 
bility. Indeed,  the  latter  cause  prevailed  upon  her 
to  take  her  seat  in  the  cabinet  council  (though 
she  took  it  with  great  reluctance)  long  before  she 
was  impelled  thither  by  events  and  her  conscious- 
ness of  its  necessity.  She  would  often  exclaim  to 
me :  '  How  happy  I  was  during  the  lifetime  of 
Louis  XV. !  No  cares  to  disturb  my  peaceful 
slumbers  !  No  responsibility  to  agitate  my  mind ! 
No  fears  of  erring,  of  partiality,  of  injustice  to 
break  in  upon  my  enjoyments  !  All,  all  happiness, 
my  dear  Princess,  vanishes  from  the  bosom  of  a 
female  if  she  once  deviate  from  the  prescribed 


CHAPTER    III  77 

domestic  character  of  her  sex  !  Nothing  was  ever 
framed  more  wise  than  the  Salique  Laws,  which 
in  France  and  many  parts  of  Germany  exclude 
females  from  reigning,  for  few  of  us  have  that 
masculine  capacity  so  necessary  to  conduct  with 
impartiality  and  justice  the  affairs  of  State  ! ' 

"  To  this  feeling  of  the  impropriety  of  feminine 
interference  in  masculine  duties,  coupled  with  her 
attachment  to  France,  both  from  principle  and 
feeling,  may  be  ascribed  the  neglect  of  her  German 
connexions,  which  led  to  the  many  mortifying  re- 
proaches, and  the  still  more  galling  espionage  to 
which  she  was  subjected  in  her  own  palace  by  her 
mother.  These  are,  however,  so  many  proofs  of 
the  falsehood  of  the  allegations  by  which  she 
suffered  so  deeply  afterwards,  of  having  sacrificed 
the  interests  of  her  husband's  kingdom  to  her 
predilection  for  her  mother's  empire. 

"  The  subtile  Rohan  designed  to  turn  the 
anxiety  of  Maria  Theresa  about  the  Dauphiness 
to  account,  and  he  was  also  aware  that  the 
ambition  of  the  Empress  was  paramount  in  Maria 
Theresa's  bosom  to  the  love  for  her  child.  He 
was  about  to  play  a  deep  and  more  than  double 


78  CHAPTER    III 

game.  By  increasing  the  mother's  jealousy  of  the 
daughter,  and  at  the  same  time  enhancing  the 
importance  of  the  advantages  afforded  by  her 
situation,  to  forward  the  interests  of  the  mother, 
he,  no  doubt,  hoped  to  get  both  within  his  power: 
for  who  can  tell  what  wild  expectation  might  not 
have  animated  such  a  mind  as  Rohan's,  at  the 
prospect  of  governing  not  only  the  Court  of 
France  but  that  of  Austria  ? — the  Court  of  France, 
through  a  secret  influence  of  his  own  dictation 
thrown  around  the  Dauphiness  by  the  mother's 
alarm  ;  and  that  of  Austria,  through  a  way  he 
pointed  out,  in  which  the  object,  that  was  most 
longed  for  by  the  mother's  ambition,  seemed 
most  likely  to  be  achieved !  While  he  endeavoured 
to  make  Maria  Theresa  beset  her  daughter  with 
the  spies  I  have  mentioned,  and  which  were 
generally  of  his  own  selection,  he  at  the  same 
time  endeavoured  to  strengthen  her  impression  of 
how  important  it  was  to  her  schemes  to  insure 
the  daughter's  co-operation.  Conscious  of  the 
eagerness  of  Maria  Theresa  for  the  recovery  of  the 
rich  province  which  Frederick  the  Great  of  Prussia 
had  wrested  from  her  ancient  dominions,  he  pressed 


CHAPTER   III  79 

upon  her  credulity  the  assurance,  that  the  in- 
fluence, of  which  the  Dauphiness  was  capable,  over 
Louis  XV.  by  the  youthful  beauty's  charms  acting 
upon  the  dotard's  admiration,  would  readily  induce 
that  monarch  to  give  such  aid  to  Austria  as  must 
insure  the  restoration  of  what  it  lost.  Silesia,  it 
has  been  before  observed,  was  always  a  topic  by 
means  of  which  the  weak  side  of  Maria  Theresa 
could  be  attacked  with  success.  There  is  generally 
some  peculiar  frailty  in  the  ambitious,  through 
which  the  artful  can  throw  them  off  their  guard. 
The  weak  and  tyrannical  Philip  II.  whenever  the 
recovery  of  Holland  and  the  Low  Countries  was 
proposed  to  him  was  always  ready  to  rush  head- 
long into  any  scheme  for  its  accomplishment ;  the 
bloody  Queen  Mary,  his  wife,  declared  that  at  her 
death  the  loss  of  Calais  would  be  found  engraven 
on  her  heart ;  and  to  Maria  Theresa,  Silesia  was 
the  Holland  and  the  Calais  for  which  her  wounded 
pride  was  thirsting.1 

i  No  doubt  if  ever  Ferdinand  of  Spain  can  be  made 
to  believe  he  has  lost  Spanish  America,  he  may  exclaim 
with  equal  truth,  "  I  feel  it  in  my  head,  in  every  fibre  of 
my  racked  frame — it  gnaws  my  unrelenting  heart  1 "  How- 
ever ridiculous,  it  is  certainly  true,  that  whenever  sovereigns, 


8o  CHAPTER   III 

"  But  Maria  Theresa  was  wary,  even  in  the 
midst  of  the  credulity  of  her  ambition.  The  Baron 
de  Neni  was  sent  by  her  privately  to  Versailles  to 
examine,  personally,  whether  there  was  anything  in 
Maria  Antoinette's  conduct  requiring  the  extreme 
vigilance  which  had  been  represented  as  indispens- 

from  their  folly,  ignorance,  oppression,  or  misrule,  lose  a 
part  of  their  States  their  reason  generally  follows,  at  least 
upon  that  one  theme.  Such  is  the  principle  which  at  this 
moment  actuates  the  Turks  for  the  recovery  of  Greece  ! 
If  the  Greeks  are  not  Spaniards,  and  English  valour  do 
not  degenerate  to  French  poltroonry,  the  fatalism  by  which 
they  are  guided  will  soon  convince  the  Turks  that  they  are 
playing  a  losing  game.  The  woeful  experience  of  some 
of  the  greatest  of  the  European  politicians  might  afford 
them  a  useful  lesson.  How  impolitic  is  the  neutrality  of 
my  own  country  upon  this  interesting  subject !  Why  is  it 
thus  reluctant  to  assist  in  tearing  off  the  yoke  of  an  intelli- 
gent people's  barbarous  oppressors,  who  are  as  uncivilised 
at  this  moment  as  they  were  centuries  ago,  when  they  first 
took  possession  of  Byzantium  ?  Ought  we  not  to  rejoice 
in  the  triumph  of  those  whom  God  himself  commands  to 
propagate  human  emancipation  ?  For  liberty,  like  religion, 
must  have  its  martyrs.  Its  blood  is  the  stamina  of  its 
existence.  Its  opposers  may  exile,  imprison,  burn  in  effigy, 
and,  in  fact,  hang  and  shoot ;  but  all  these  violences  only 
strengthen  the  creed  of  the  survivors,  and  must  end  in 
the  ruin  of  the  unholy  cause  they  would  fain  strengthen. 
Nations  must  be  free  to  be  prosperous,  and  Princes  liberal 
to  be  happy.  Liberty  is  the  phoenix  that-  revives  from  its 
ashes ! — ED. 


CHAPTER    III  8l 

able.  The  report  of  the  Baron  de  Neni  to  his 
royal  mistress  was  such  as  to  convince  her  she  had 
been  misled  and  her  daughter  misrepresented  by 
Rohan.  The  Empress  instantly  forbade  him  her 
presence. 

"The  Cardinal  upon  this,  unknown  to  the 
Court  of  Vienna,  and  indeed,  to  everyone,  except 
his  factotum,  principal  agent,  and  secretary,  the 
Abbe"  Georgel,  left  the  Austrian  capital,  and  came 
to  Versailles,  covering  his  disgrace  by  pretended 
leave  of  absence.  On  seeing  Maria  Antoinette  he 
fell  enthusiastically  in  love  with  her.  To  gain  her 
confidence  he  disclosed  the  conduct  which  had 
been  observed  towards  her  by  the  Empress,  and,  in 
confirmation  of  the  correctness  of  his  disclosure, 
admitted  that  he  had  himself  chosen  the  spies, 
which  had  been  set  on  her.  Indignant  at  such 
meanness  in  her  mother,  and  despising  the  prelate, 
who  could  be  base  enough  to  commit  a  deed  equally 
corrupt  and  uncalled  for,  and  even  thus  wantonly 
betrayed  when  committed,  the  Dauphiness  suddenly 
withdrew  from  his  presence,  and  gave  orders  that 
he  should  never  be  admitted  to  any  of  her  parties. 

"  But   his   imagination   was   too   much  heated 
VOL.  i  6 


82  CHAPTER    III 

by  a  guilty  passion  of  the  blackest  hue  to  recede ; 
and  his  nature  too  presumptuous  and  fertile  in 
expedients  to  be  disconcerted.  He  soon  found 
means  to  conciliate  both  mother  and  daughter; 
and  both  by  pretending  to  manage  with  the  one 
the  self-same  plot,  which,  with  the  other,  he  was 
recommending  himself  by  pretending  to  overthrow. 
To  elude  detection  he  interrupted  the  regular 
correspondence  between  the  Empress  and  the 
Dauphiness,  and  created  a  coolness  by  preventing 
the  communications  which  would  have  unmasked 
him,  that  gave  additional  security  to  the  success 
of  his  deception. 

"  By  the  most  diabolical  arts  he  obtained  an 
interview  with  the  Dauphiness,  in  which  he  re- 
gained her  confidence.  He  made  her  believe  that 
he  had  been  commissioned  by  her  mother,  as  she 
had  shown  so  little  interest  for  the  house  of 
Austria,  to  settle  a  marriage  for  her  sister,  the 
Arch-duchess  Elizabeth,  with  Louis  XV.  The 
Dauphiness  was  deeply  affected  at  the  statement. 
She  could  not  conceal  her  agitation.  She  in- 
voluntarily confessed  how  much  she  should  deplore 
such  an  alliance.  The  Cardinal  instantly  perceived 


CHAPTER   III  83 

his  advantage,  and  was  too  subtle  to  let  it  pass. 
He  declared  that  as  it  was  to  him  the  negotiation 
had  been  confided,  if  the  Dauphiness  would  keep 
her  own  counsel,  never  communicate  their  con- 
versation to  the  Empress,  but  leave  the  whole 
matter  to  his  management  and  only  assure  him 
that  he  was  forgiven,  he  would  pledge  himself  to 
arrange  things  to  her  satisfaction.  The  Dau- 
phiness, not  wishing  to  see  another  raised  to  the 
throne  over  her  head  and  to  her  scorn,  under  the 
assurance  that  no  one  knew  of  the  intention  or 
could  prevent  it  but  the  Cardinal,  promised  him 
her  faith  and  favour ;  and  thus  rashly  fell  into 
the  springe  of  this  wily  intriguer. 

"Exulting  to  find  Maria  Antoinette  in  his 
power,  the  Cardinal  left  Versailles  as  privately  as 
he  arrived  there,  for  Vienna.  His  next  object  was 
to  ensnare  the  Empress,  as  he  had  done  her 
daughter ;  and  by  a  singular  caprice  fortune,  during 
his  absence,  had  been  preparing  for  him  the  means. 

"  The  Abb6  Georgel,  his  secretary,  by  under- 
hand manoeuvres,  to  which  he  was  accustomed, 
had  obtained  access  to  all  the  secret  State  corres- 
pondence, in  which  the  Empress  had  expressed 

6—2 


84  CHAPTER  III 

herself  fully  to  the  Count  de  Mercy  relative  to  the 
views  of  Russia  and  Prussia  upon  Poland,  whereby 
her  own  plans  were  much  thwarted.  The  acquire- 
ment of  copies  of  these  documents  naturally  gave 
the  Cardinal  free  access  to  the  Court  and  a  ready 
introduction  once  more  to  the  Empress.  She  was 
too  much  committed  by  his  possession  of  such 
weapons,  not  to  be  most  happy  to  make  her 
peace  with  him ;  and  he  was  too  sagacious  not  to 
make  the  best  use  of  his  opportunity.  To  regain 
her  confidence,  he  betrayed  some  of  the  subaltern 
agents,  through  whose  treachery  he  had  procured 
his  evidences,  and,  in  farther  confirmation  of  his 
resources,  showed  the  Empress  several  dispatches 
from  her  own  ministers  to  the  Courts  of  Russia 
and  Prussia.  He  had  long,  he  said,  been  in 
possession  of  similar  views  of  aggrandisement, 
upon  which  these  Courts  were  about  to  act;  and 
had,  for  a  while,  even  incurred  Her  Imperial 
Majesty's  displeasure,  merely  because  he  was  not 
in  a  situation  fully  to  explain;  but  that  he  had 
now  thought  of  the  means  to  crush  their  schemes 
before  they  could  be  put  in  practice.  He  apprised 
her  of  his  being  aware  that  Her  Imperial  Majesty's 


CHAPTER  III  85 

ministers  were  actively  carrying  on  a  correspond- 
ence with  Russia,  with  a  view  o£  ioining  her  in 
checking  the  French  co-operation  with  the  Grand 
Signior;  and  warned  her  that  it  this  design  were 
secretly  pursued,  it  would  defeat  the  very  views 
she  had  in  sharing  in  the  spoliation  of  Poland ; 
and  if  openly,  it  would  be  deemed  an  avowal  of 
hostilities  against  the  Court  of  France,  whose 
political  system  would  certainly  impel  it  to  resist 
any  attack  upon  the  divan  of  Constantinople,  that 
the  balance  of  power  in  Europe  might  be  main- 
tained against  the  formidable  ambition  of  Catherine, 
whose  gigantic  hopes  had  been  already  too  much 
realised. 

"  Maria  Theresa  was  no  less  astonished  at 
these  disclosures  of  the  Cardinal  than  the  Dau- 
phiness  had  been  at  his  communication  concerning 
her.  She  plainly  saw  that  all  her  plans  were 
known,  and  might  be  defeated  from  their  detection. 

"  The  Cardinal,  having  succeeded  in  alarming 
the  Empress,  took  from  his  pocket  a  fabulous 
correspondence,  hatched  by  his  secretary,  the  Abbe 
Georgel.  '  There,  madam,'  said  he,  '  this  will 
convince  your  majesty  that  the  warm  interest 


86  CHAPTER  III 

I  have  taken  in  your  Imperial  house  has  carried 
me  farther  than  I  was  justified  in  having  gone; 
but  seeing  the  sterility  of  the  Dauphiness,  or,  as 
it  is  reported  by  some  of  the  Court,  the  total 
disgust  the  Dauphin  has  to  consummate  the 
marriage,  the  coldness  of  your  daughter  towards 
the  interest  of  your  Court,  and  the  prospect  of  a 
race  from  the  Countess  d'Artois,  for  the  conse- 
quences of  which  there  is  no  answering,  I  have, 
unknown  to  your  Imperial  Majesty,  taken  upon 
myself  to  propose  to  Louis  XV.  a  marriage  with 
the  Arch-duchess  Elizabeth,  who,  on  becoming 
Queen  of  France,  will  immediately  have  it  in  her 
power  to  forward  the  Austrian  interest  ;  for 
Louis  XV.,  as  the  first  proof  of  his  affection  to  his 
young  bride,  will  at  once  secure  to  your  Empire 
the  aid  you  stand  so  much  in  need  of  against  the 
ambition  of  these  two  rising  states.  The  recovery 
of  your  Imperial  Majesty's  ancient  dominions 
may  then  be  looked  upon  as  accomplished  from 
the  influence  of  the  French  cabinet. 

"  The  bait  was  swallowed.  Maria  Theresa 
was  so  overjoyed  at  this  scheme  that  she  totally 
forgot  all  former  animosity  against  the  Cardinal. 


CHAPTER   III  87 

She  was  encouraged  to  ascribe  the  silence  of 
Maria  Antoinette  (whose  letters  had  been  inter- 
cepted by  the  Cardinal  himself)  to  her  resentment 
of  this  project  concerning  her  sister;  and  the  de- 
luded Empress,  availing  herself  of  the  pretended 
zeal  of  the  Cardinal  for  the  interest  of  her  family, 
gave  him  full  powers  to  return  to  France  and 
secretly  negociate  the  alliance  for  her  daughter 
Elizabeth,  which  was  by  no  means  to  be  disclosed 
to  the  Dauphiness  till  the  King's  proxy  should  be 
appointed  to  perform  the  ceremony  at  Vienna. 
This  was  all  the  Cardinal  wished  for. 

'*  Meanwhile,  in  order  to  obtain  a  still  greater 
ascendancy  over  the  Court  of  France,  he  had 
expended  immense  sums  to  bribe  secretaries 
and  ministers ;  and  couriers  were  even  stopped 
to  have  copies  taken  of  all  the  correspondence  to 
and  from  Austria  At  the  same  crisis  the  Empress 
was  informed  by  Prince  Kaunitz  that  the  Cardinal 
and  his  suite  at  the  palace  of  the  French 
ambassador  carried  on  such  an  immense  and 
barefaced  traffic  of  French  manufactures  of  every 
description  that  Maria  Theresa  thought  proper, 
in  order  to  prevent  future  abuse,  to  abolish  the 


88  CHAPTER   III 

privilege  which  gave  to  ministers  and  ambas- 
sadors an  opportunity  of  defrauding  the  revenue. 
Though  this  law  was  levelled  exclusively  at  the 
Cardinal,  it  was  thought  convenient  under  the 
circumstances  to  avoid  irritating  him,  and  it  was 
consequently  made  general.  But,  the  Count  de 
Mercy  now  obtaining  some  clue  to  his  duplicity, 
an  intimation  was  given  to  the  Court  at  Ver- 
sailles, to  which  the  King  replied,  '  If  the 
Empress  be  dissatisfied  with  the  French  ambas- 
sador, he  shall  be  recalled.'  But  though  com- 
pletely unmasked  none  dared  publicly  to  accuse 
him,  each  party  fearing  a  discovery  of  its  own 
intrigue.  His  official  recall  did  not  in  consequence 
take  place  for  some  time;  and  the  Cardinal,  nol 
thinking  it  prudent  to  go  back  till  Louis  XV. 
should  be  no  more,  lest  some  unforseen  discovery 
of  his  project  for  supplying  her  royal  paramour 
with  a  queen  should  rouse  Du  Barry  to  get  his 
Cardinalship  sent  to  the  Bastille  for  life,  remained 
fixed  in  his  post,  waiting  for  events. 

"  At  length  Louis  XV.  expired,  and  the 
Cardinal  returned  to  Versailles.  He  contrived 
to  obtain  a  private  audience  of  the  young 


CHAPTER   III  89 

Queen.  He  presumed  upon  her  former  facility 
in  listening  to  him,  and  was  about  to  betray 
the  last  confidence  of  Maria  Theresa ;  but  the 
Queen,  shocked  at  the  knowledge  which  she  had 
obtained  ol  his  having  been  equally  treacherous 
to  her  with  her  mother,  in  disgust  and  alarm 
left  the  room  without  receiving  a  letter  he 
had  brought  her  from  Maria  Theresa,  and  with- 
out deigning  to  address  a  single  word  to  him. 
In  the  heat  of  her  passion  and  resentment,  she 
was  nearly  exposing  all  she  knew  of  his  infamies 
to  the  King,  when  the  cool-headed  Princess 
Elizabeth  opposed  her,  from  the  seeming  impru- 
dence of  such  an  abrupt  discovery ;  alleging  that 
it  might  cause  an  open  rupture  between  the  two 
Courts,  as  it  had  already  been  the  source  of  a 
reserve  and  coolness,  which  had  not  yet  bzen 
explained.  The  Queen  was  determined  never  more 
to  commit  herself  by  seeing  the  Cardinal.  She 
accordingly  sent  for  her  mother's  letter,  which  he 
himseh  delivered  into  the  hands  of  her  confidential 
messenger,  who  advised  the  Queen  not  to  betray 
the  Cardinal  to  the  King,  lest,  in  so  doing,  she 
should  never  be  able  to  guard  herself  against  the 


go  CHAPTER   III 

domestic  spies,  by  whom,  perhaps,  she  was  even 
yet  surrounded  1  The  Cardinal,  conceiving,  from 
the  impunity  of  his  conduct,  that  he  still  held  the 
Queen  in  check,  through  the  influence  of  her  fears 
of  his  disclosing  her  weakness  upon  the  subject  of 
the  obstruction  she  threw  in  the  way  of  her 
sister's  marriage,  did  not  resign  the  hope  of  con- 
verting that  ascendancy  to  his  future  profit. 

"  The  fatal  silence  to  which  Her  Majesty 
was  thus  unfortunately  advised  I  regret  from  the 
bottom  of  my  soul !  All  the  successive  vile  plots 
of  the  Cardinal  against  the  peace  and  reputation 
of  the  Queen  may  be  attributed  to  this  ill- 
judged  prudence  1  Though  it  resulted  from  an 
honest  desire  of  screening  Her  Majesty  from  the 
resentment  or  revenge  to  which  she  might  have 
subjected  herself  from  this  villain,  who  had  already 
injured  her  in  her  own  estimation  for  having  been 
credulous  enough  to  have  listened  to  him,  yet 
from  this  circumstance  it  is  that  the  Prince  de 
Rohan  built  the  foundation  of  all  the  after  frauds 
and  machinations  with  which  he  blackened  the 
character  and  destroyed  the  comfort  of  his  illus- 
trious victim.  It  is  obvious  that  a  mere  exclusion 


CHAPTER  III  91 

from  Court  was  too  mild  a  punishment  for  such 
offences,  and  it  was  but  too  natural  that  such  a 
mind  as  his,  driven  from  the  royal  presence,  and, 
of  course,  from  all  the  noble  societies  to  which 
it  led  (the  anti-Court  party  excepted),  should 
brood  over  the  means  of  inveigling  the  Queen 
into  a  consent  for  his  re-appearance  before  her 
and  the  gay  world,  which  was  his  only  element, 
and  if  her  favour  should  prove  unattainable  to 
revenge  himself  by  her  ruin. 

"  On  the  Cardinal's  return  to  France,1  all  his 
numerous  and  powerful  friends  beset  the  King  and 
Queen  to  allow  of  his  restoration  to  his  embassy ; 
but  though  on  his  arrival  at  Versailles,  finding  the 
Court  had  removed  to  Compeigne,  he  had  a  short 
audience  there  of  the  King,  all  efforts  in  his  favour 
were  thrown  away.  Equally  unsuccessful  was 
every  intercession  with  the  Empress-mother.  She 
had  become  thoroughly  awakened  to  his  worthless- 
ness,  and  she  declared  she  would  never  more  even 
receive  him  in  her  dominions  as  a  visitor.  The 
Cardinal,  being  apprised  of  this  by  some  of  his 

i  This  circumstance  is  mentioned  also  by  Madame 
Campan. 


g2  CHAPTER   II 

intimates,  was  at  last  persuaded  to  give  up  the 
idea  of  further  importunity ;  and,  pocketing  his 
disgrace,  retired  with  his  hey  dukes  and  his  secre- 
tary, the  Abbe"  Georgel,  to  whom  may  be  attributed 
all  the  artful  intrigues  of  his  disgraceful  diplomacy.1 

"  It  is  evident  that  Rohan  had  no  idea,  during 
all  his  schemes  to  supplant  the  Dauphiness  by 
marrying  her  sister  to  the  King,  that  the  secret 
hope  of  Louis  XV.  had  been  to  divorce  the 
Dauphin  and  marry  the  slighted  bride  himself. 
Perhaps  it  is  fortunate  that  Rohan  did  not  know 
this.  A  brain  so  fertile  in  mischief  as  his  might 
have  converted  such  a  circumstance  to  baneful 
uses-  But  the  death  of  Louis  XV.  put  an  end  to 
all  the  then  existing  schemes  for  a  change  in  her 
position.  It  was  to  her  a  real,  though  but  a 
momentary  triumph.  From  the  hour  of  her  arrival 
she  had  a  powerful  party  to  cope  with ;  and  the 
fact  of  her  being  an  Austrian,  independent  of 
the  jealousy  created  by  her  charms,  was,  in  itself, 

i  The  Abbe  Georgel,  in  his  memoirs,  justifies  the 
conduct  of  his  superior  with  great  ability ;  and  it  was  very 
politic  in  him  to  do  so,  because  he  thereby  exonerates 
himself  from  the  imputation  he  would  naturally  incur 
from  having  been  a  known  party,  if  not  a  principal,  in  all 
which  has  dishonoured  the  Cardinal. 


CHAPTER   III  93 

a  spell  to  conjure  up  armies,  against  which  she 
stood  alone,  isolated  in  the  face  of  embattled 
myriads  !  But  she  now  reared  her  head,  and  her 
foes  trembled  in  her  presence.  Yet  she  could  not 
guard  against  the  moles  busy  in  the  earth  secretly 
to  undermine  her.  Nay,  had  not  Louis  XV.  died 
at  the  moment  he  did,  there  is  scarcely  a  doubt, 
from  the  number  and  the  quality  of  the  hostile 
influences  working  on  the  credulity  of  the  young 
Dauphin,  that  Maria  Antoinette  would  have  been 
very  harshly  dealt  with  ;  even  the  more  so  from 
the  partiality  of  the  dotard  who  believed  himself 
to  be  reigning.  But  she  has  been  preserved  from 
her  enemies  to  become  their  sovereign ;  and  if 
her  crowned  brow  has  erewhile  been  stung  by 
thorns  in  its  coronal,  let  me  not  despair  ot  their 
being  hereafter  smothered  in  yet  unblown  roses.1 

i  The  vain  wish  of  friendship,  that  has  been  cruelly 
disappointed !  Fortunate  would  it  have  been  for  Maria 
Antoinette  had  she  been  sent  back  to  Vienna!  What  an 
ocean  of  blood,  what  writhings  of  human  misery,  it  might 
have  prevented !  Had  she  been  sent  back,  spotless  as  the 
first  fallen  snow,  her  life  might  have  passed  in  that  domestic 
bliss  which  was  her  sole  ambition,  and  she  would  have  gone 
down  to  the  peaceful  tombs  of  her  august  ancestors,  leaving, 
perhaps,  the  page  of  history  unstained  by  some  of  the  greatest 
of  its  crimes  I 


CHAPTER    IV 

JOURNAL  CONTINUED ACCESSION    OF    LOUIS    XVI.    AND 

MARIA  ANTOINETTE — HAPPY  BEGINNING — PUBLIC  JOY 

THE  NEW  KING    MORE  AFFECTIONATE   TO   HIS   QUEEN 

DU    BARRY    AND    PARTY   NO    LONGER    RECEIVED    AT 

COURT — UNSUCCESSFUL  ATTEMPT  OF  THE  QUEEN  TO 
RESTORE  CHOISEUL  TO  THE  MINISTRY — INSINUATIONS 
AGAINST  THE  QUEEN — VERMOND  AND  THE  KING — THE 
QUEEN'S  MODESTY  RESPECTING  HER  TOILETTE  — 
MADEMOISELLE  BERTIN,  THE  MILLINER,  INTRODUCED — 
ANECDOTE  OF  THE  ROYAL  HAIRDRESSER — FALSE  CHARGE 
OF  EXTRAVAGANCE  AGAINST  THE  QUEEN — REMARKS  OF 
THE  EDITOR. 

"  THE  accession  of  Louis  XVI.  and  Maria 
Antoinette  to  the  crown  of  France  took  place  (May 
10,  1774)  under  the  most  propitious  auspices ! 

"After  the  long,  corrupt  reign  of  an  old  de- 
bauched Prince,  whose  vices  were  degrading  to 
himself  and  to  a  nation  groaning  under  the  lash 
of  prostitution  and  caprice,  the  most  cheering 
changes  were  expected  from  the  known  exem- 
plariness  of  his  successor  and  the  amiableness  of 
his  consort.  Both  were  looked  up  to  as  models 


CHAPTER    IV  95 

of  goodness.  The  virtues  of  Louis  XVI.  were  so 
generally  known  that  all  France  hastened  to  ac- 
knowledge them,  while  the  Queen's  fascinations 
acted  like  a  charm  on  all  who  had  not  been  in- 
vincibly prejudiced  against  the  many  excellent 
qualities  which  entitled  her  to  love  and  admiration. 
Indeed,  I  never  heard  an  insinuation  against  either 
the  King  or  Queen  but  from  those  depraved  minds 
which  never  possessed  virtue  enough  to  imitate 
theirs,  or  were  jealous  of  the  wonderful  powers  of 
pleasing  that  so  eminently  distinguished  Maria 
Antoinette  from  the  rest  of  her  sex. 

"  On  the  death  of  Louis  XV.  the  entire  Court 
removed  from  Versailles  to  the  palace  of  La  Muette, 
situate  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  very  near  Paris. 
The  confluence  of  Parisians,  who  came  in  crowds 
joyfully  to  hail  the  death  of  the  old  vitiated 
Sovereign,  and  the  accession  of  his  adored  suc- 
cessors, became  quite  annoying  to  the  whole  royal 
family.  The  enthusiasm  with  which  the  Parisians 
hailed  their  young  King,  and  in  particular  his 
amiable  young  partner,  lasted  for  many  days. 
These  spontaneous  evidences  of  attachment  were 
regarded  as  prognostics  of  a  long  reign  of  happi- 


96  CHAPTER   IV 

ness.  If  any  inference  can  be  drawn  from  public 
opinion,  could  there  be  a  stronger  assurance  than 
this  one  of  uninterrupted  future  tranquillity  to  its 
objects  ? 

"  To  the  Queen  herself  it  was  a  double  triumph. 
The  conspirators,  whose  depravity  had  been  labour- 
ing to  make  her  their  victim,  departed  from  the 
scene  of  power.  The  husband,  who  for  four  years 
had  been  callous  to  her  attractions,  became 
awakened  to  them.  A  complete  change  in  the 
domestic  system  of  the  palace  was  wrought  sud- 
denly. The  young  King,  during  the  interval  which 
elapsed  between  the  death  and  the  interment  of  his 
grandfather,  from  Court  etiquette  was  confined  to 
his  apartments.  The  youthful  couple  therefore  saw 
each  other  with  less  restraint.  The  marriage  was 
consummated.  Maria  Antoinette  from  this  moment 
may  date  that  influence  over  the  heart  (would  I 
might  add  over  the  head  and  policy  ! )  of  the  King, 
which  never  slackened  during  the  remainder  of 
their  lives. 

"  Madame  Du  Barry  was  much  better  dealt 
with  by  the  young  King,  whom  she  had  always 
treated  with  the  greatest  levity,  than  she,  or  her 


96  CHAPTER   IV 

ness.     If  any  inference  can  be  drawn  from   public 
ild  there  be  a  stronger  as.-  ihan 

:  of  uninterrupted   future  ti  its 

objects  ? 

"  To  the  Queen  herself  it  was  a  double  triumph. 
The  conspirators,  whose  de;^  Deen  labour- 

ing to  make  her  their  vict^ji,  departed  from  the 
scene  of  power.  The  husluijatl,  who  for  four  years 
had  been  callous  to  Mg£  attractions,  became 


awakened   to    them.     A  £/  =  >h^plete  in   the 

2^ 

dom  te;n   of  the  .  >3    L-  sud- 

y.    The  young  Kins,    ,    &    '  the  interval  v 

sed  between  the  den£i  ofl^d  '.be  interment  01 

&    ^ 
'her,  from   Court-°etr?Juette  was  1  to 

.ipartments.     Tl:-    \  <$(  hjjil  couple  ti 

" 


.  other  with  less  resfi?ai^t.      The  marriage  was 
:iated.     Maria  Antoyjette  from  this  moment 

s£ 

may  date  that  influence  oyBr  the  heart   (would  I 

pJ 
Jd  over  the  •&  policy  1)  of  the  King, 

r    slackened    during    the    remainder    of 
lives. 

ladame  Du  Barry  was  much  better  dealt 
with  by  the  young  King,  whom  she  had  always 
treated  with  the  greatest  levity,  than  she,  or  her 


CHAPTER   IV  97 

numerous  courtiers,  expected.  She  was  allowed 
her  pension,  and  the  entire  enjoyment  of  all  her 
ill-gotten  and  accumulated  wealth :  but,  of  course, 
excluded  from  ever  appearing  at  Court,  and  politi- 
cally exile  i  from  Paris  to  the  Chateau  aux  Dames. 

"  This  implacable  foe  and  her  infamous  coad- 
jutors being  removed  from  farther  interference  in 
matters  of  state  by  the  expulsion  of  all  their  own 
ministers,  their  rivals,  the  Duke  de  Choiseul  and 
his  party,  by  whom  Maria  Antoinette  had  been 
brought  to  France,  were  now  in  high  expectation 
of  finding  the  direction  of  the  Government,  by 
the  Queen's  influence,  restored  to  that  nobleman. 
But  the  King's  choice  was  already  made.  He 
had  been  ruled  by  his  aunts,  and  appointed  the 
ministers  suggested  by  them  and  his  late  grand- 
father's friends,  who  feared  the  preponderance 
of  the  Austrian  influence.  The  three  ladies, 
Madame  la  Mare"chale  de  Beauveau,  the  Duchess 
de  Choiseul,  and  the  Duchess  de  Grammont, 
who  were  all  well-known  to  Louis  XVI.  and 
stood  high  in  his  opinion  for  many  excellent 
qualities,  and  especially  for  their  independent 

assertion     of    their     own    and     the     Dauphiness's 
VOL.  i  7 


98  CHAPTER   IV 

dignity  by  retiring  from  Court  in  consequence  of 
the  supper  at  which  Du  Barry  was  introduced, 
these  ladies,  though  received  on  their  return 
thither  with  peculiar  welcome,  in  vain  united 
their  efforts  with  those  of  the  Queen  and  the 
Abbe"  Vermond,  to  overcome  the  prejudice  which 
opposed  Choiseul's  re-instatement.  It  was  all  in 
vain.  The  royal  aunts,  Adelaide  especially,  hated 
Choiseul  for  the  sake  of  Austria,  and  his  agency 
in  bringing  Maria  Antoinette  to  France;  and  so 
did  the  King's  tutor  and  governor,  the  Duke  de 
Vauguyon,  who  had  ever  been  hostile  to  any  sort  of 
friendship  with  Vienna ;  and  these  formed  a  host 
impenetrable  even  to  the  influence  of  the  Queen, 
which  was  opposed  by  all  the  leaders  of  the 
prevailing  party,  who,  though  they  were  beginning 
externally  to  court,  admire,  and  idolize  her,  secretly 
surrounded  her  by  tfieir  noxious  and  viperous 
intrigues,  and,  while  they  lived  in  her  bosom, 
fattened  on  the  destruction  of  her  fame ! 

"  One  of  the  earliest  of  the  paltry  insinua- 
tions against  Maria  Antoinette  emanated  from  her 
not  counterfeiting  deep  affliction  at  the  decease  of 
the  old  King.  A  few  days  after  that  event,  the 


CHAPTER    IV  99 

Court  received  the  regular  visits  of  condolence 
and  congratulation  of  the  nobility,  whose  duty 
prescribes  their  attendance  upon  such  occasions; 
and  some  of  them,  among  whom  were  the 
daughters  of  Louis  XV.,  not  finding  a  young 
Queen  of  nineteen  hypocritically  bathed  in  tears, 
on  returning  to  their  abodes  declared  her  the 
most  indecorous  of  Princesses,  and  diffused  a 
strong  impression  of  her  want  of  feeling.  At 
the  head  of  these  detractors  were  Mesdames  de 
.  Gue'me'ne'e  and  Marsan,  rival  pretenders  to  the 
favours  of  the  Cardinal  de  Rohan,  who,  having 
by  the  death  of  Louis  XV.  lost  their  influence 
and  their  unlimited  power  to  appoint  and  dismiss 
ministers,  themselves  became  ministers  to  their 
own  evil  geniuses,  in  calumniating  her  whose 
legitimate  elevation  annihilated  their  monstrous 
pretensions  ! 

"  The  Abbe"  Vermond,  seeing  the  defeat  of 
the  party  of  the  Duke  de  Choiseul,  by  whom  he 
had  been  sent  to  the  Court  of  Vienna  on  the 
recommendation  of  Brienne,  began  to  tremble 
for  his  own  security.  As  soon  as  the  Court  had 

arrived    at    Choisy    and    he    was    assured    of   the 

7—2 


IOO  CHAPTER   IV 

marriage  having  been  consummated,  he  obtained, 
with  the  Queen's  consent,  an  audience  of  the 
King,  for  the  purpose  of  soliciting  his  sanction 
to  his  continuing  in  his  situation.  On  submitting 
his  suit  to  the  King,  His  Majesty  merely  gave  a 
shrug  of  the  shoulders  and  turned  to  converse 
with  the  Duke  d'Aiguillon,  who  at  that  moment 
entered  the  room.  The  Abbe  stood  stupefied,  and 
the  Queen,  seeing  the  crestfallen  humour  of  her 
tutor,  laughed  and  cheered  him  by  remarking, 
'  There  is  more  meaning  in  the  shrug  of  a  King 
than  in  the  embrace  of  a  minister.  The  one 
always  promises,  but  is  seldom  sincere;  the  other 
is  generally  sincere,  but  never  promises.'  The 
Abbe,  not  knowing  how  to  interpret  the  dumb 
answer,  finding  the  King's  back  turned  and  his 
conversation  with  d'Aiguillon  continuing,  was 
retiring  with  a  shrug  of  his  own  shoulders  to 
the  Queen,  when  she  exclaimed  good-humouredly 
to  Louis,  laughing  and  pointing  to  the  Abbe, 
'  Look !  look  1  see  how  readily  a  Church  dignitary 
can  imitate  the  good  Christian  King,  who  is  at 
the  head  of  the  Church.'  The  King,  seeing  the 
Abb6  still  waiting,  said  dryly,  '  Sir,  you  are  con- 


CHAPTER   IV  101 

firmed  in  your  situation,'  and  then  resumed  his 
conversation  with  the  Duke. 

"This  anecdote  is  a  sufficient  proof  that 
Louis  XVI.  had  no  prepossession  in  favour  of 
the  Abbe  Vermond,  and  that  it  was  merely  not 
to  wound  the  feelings  of  the  Queen  that  he  was 
tolerated.  The  Queen  herself  was  conscious  of 
this,  and  used  frequently  to  say  to  me  how  much 
she  was  indebted  to  the  King,  for  such  deference 
to  her  private  choice,  in  allowing  Vermond  to  be 
her  secretary,  as  she  did  not  remember  the  King's 
ever  having  held  any  communication  with  the 
Abbe"  during  the  whole  time  he  was  attached  to 
the  service,  though  the  Abbe  always  expressed 
himself  with  the  greatest  respect  towards  the 
King. 

"The  decorum  of  Maria  Antoinette  would  not 
allow  her  to  endure  those  public  exhibitions  of 
the  ceremony  of  dressing  herself  which  had  been 
customary  at  Court.  This  reserve  was  highly 
approved  by  His  Majesty;  and  one  of  the  first 
reforms  she  introduced,  after  the  accession,  was 
in  the  internal  discipline  of  her  own  apartment. 

"  It  was  during   one  of  the  visits,  apart   from 


102  CHAPTER   IV 

Court  etiquette,  to  the  toilet  of  the  Queen,  that 
the  Duchess  de  Chartres,  afterwards  Duchess 
of  Orleans,  introduced  the  famous  Mademoiselle 
Bertin,  who  afterwards  became  so  celebrated  as 
the  Queen's  milliner ;  the  first  that  was  ever 
allowed  to  approach  a  royal  palace  ;  and  it  was 
months  before  Maria  Antoinette  had  courage  to 
receive  her  milliner  in  any  other  than  the  private 
apartment,  which,  by  the  alteration  Her  Majesty 
had  made  in  the  arrangements  of  the  household, 
she  set  apart  for  the  purposes  of  dressing  in  com- 
fort by  herself  and  free  from  all  intruders. 

"Till  then  the  Queen  was  not  only  very  plain 
in  her  attire,  but  very  economical ;  a  circumstance 
which,  I  have  often  heard  her  say,  gave  great 
umbrage  to  the  other  Princesses  of  the  Court  of 
Versailles,  who  never  showed  themselves,  from  the 
moment  they  rose  till  they  returned  to  bed,  except 
in  full  dress ;  while  she  herself  made  all  her 
morning  visits  in  a  simple  white  cambric  gown 
and  straw  hat.  This  simplicity,  unfortunately, 
like  many  other  trifles,  whose  consequences  no 
foresight  would  have  predicted,  tended  much  to 
injure  Maria  Antoinette,  not  only  with  the  Court 


CHAPTER   IV  103 

dandies,  but  the  nation  ;  by  whom,  though  she 
was  always  censured,  she  was  as  suddenly  imitated 
in  all  she  wore,  or  did. 

"  From  the  private  closet,  which  Maria 
Antoinette  reserved  to  herself,  and  had  now 
opened  to  her  milliner,  she  would  return,  after 
the  great  points  of  habiliment  were  accomplished, 
to  those  who  were  waiting  with  memorials  at  her 
public  toilet,  where  the  hairdresser  would  finish 
putting  the  ornaments  in  Her  Majesty's  hair.1 

I  The  Count  de  Fersan  relates  a  curious  anecdote  of  an 
occurrence  which  caused  a  great  deal  of  mirth  among  the 
visitors  of  Her  Majesty's  toilet  rendezvous.  Mademoiselle 
Bertin  had  invented  a  new  head  ornament  of  gauze,  ribbons, 
flowers,  beads,  and  feathers,  for  the  Queen ;  but  the  tire- 
woman, finding  it  deficient  in  the  dimensions  Her  Majesty 
had  ordered,  by  some  folds,  directed  the  gauze  architect, 
Mademoiselle  Bertin,  to  alter  it  so  as  to  conform  thoroughly 
to  the  model.  This  was  executed ;  and  Maria  Antoinette 
went  to  her  morning  visitors.  The  royal  hairdresser,  accord- 
ing to  custom,  was  in  attendance  there,  with  an  embellish- 
ment, of  which  she  did  not  perceive  the  use.  "What  are 
these  steps  for  ? "  exclaimed  she  to  the  tire-woman. — The 
knight  of  the  comb  advanced,  and,  making  a  most  profound 
reverence,  humbly  represented  to  Her  Majesty  that,  Made- 
moiselle Bertin  having  so  enormously  increased  the  height 
of  the  head  ornaments,  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to 
establish  them  upon  a  firm  foundation,  unless  he  could  have 
a  complete  command  of  the  head  they  were  to  be  fixed  on 


104  CHAPTER   IV 

"  The  King  made  Maria  Antoinette  a  present 
of  Le  Petit  Trianon.  Much  has  been  said  of  the 
extravagant  expense  lavished  by  her  upon  this 
spot.  I  can  only  declare  that  the  greater  part  of 
the  articles  of  furniture  which  had  not  been  worn 
out  by  time  or  were  not  worm  or  moth-eaten,  and 
her  own  bed  among  them,  were  taken  from  the 
apartments  of  former  Queens,  and  some  of  them 
had  actually  belonged  to  Anne  of  Austria,  who, 
like  Maria  Antoinette,  had  purchased  them  out 
of  her  private  savings.  Hence  it  is  clear  that 
neither  oi  the  two  Queens  were  chargeable  to  the 
State  even  for  those  little  indulgences,  which 
every  private  lady  of  property  is  permitted  from 
her  husband,  without  coming  under  the  lash  of 
censure. 

and,  being  but  of  the  middle  size  and  Her  Majesty  very  tall, 
he  could  not  achieve  the  duty  of  his  office  without  mounting 
three  or  four  steps,  which  he  did,  to  the  great  amusement  ot 
the  Queen  and  the  whole  party,  and  thus  placed  the  ne  plus 
ultra  of  Mademoiselle  Bertin's  invention,  to  the  best  of  his 
own  judgment,  on  the  pinnacle  ot  the  royal  head !  As 
Hamlet  says  of  Yorick — "  Alas !  where  be  your  flashes  of 
merriment  now  ?  " — Who  would  have  dared,  at  that  toilet, 
and  among  those  smiles,  to  have  prognosticated  the  cruel 
fate  of  the  head  which  then  attracted  such  general 
admiration ! 


CHAPTER   IV  105 

"  Her  allowance  as  Queen  of  France  was  no 
more  than  300,000  francs  (£12,250).  It  is  well 
known  that  she  was  generous,  liberal,  and  very 
charitable ;  that  she  paid  all  her  expenses  regularly, 
respecting  her  household,  Trianon,  her  dresses, 
diamonds,  millinery,  and  everything  else  ;  her 
Court  establishment  excepted,  and  some  few 
articles,  which  were  paid  by  the  civil  list.  She 
was  one  of  the  first  Queens  in  Europe,  had  the 
first  establishment  in  Europe,  and  was  obliged  to 
keep  up  the  most  refined  and  luxurious  Court  in 
Europe  ;  and  all  upon  means  no  greater  than 
had  been  assigned  to  many  of  the  former  bigotted 
Queens,  who  led  a  cloistered  life,  retired  from  the 
world  without  circulating  their  wealth  among 
the  nation  which  supplied  them  with  so  large  a 
revenue;  and  yet  who  lived  and  died  uncensured 
for  hoarding  from  the  nation  what  ought  at  least 
to  have  been  in  part  expended  for  its  advantage.1 

i  The  Queens  of  England,  who  never  had  occasion  to 
keep  a  Court  like  that  of  France,  besides  the  revenue  allowed 
them,  it  is  said,  and  with  some  authority,  have  sinecures, 
resulting  merely  from  the  insertion  of  their  names  in  the 
liturgy  01  eighty  thousand  pounds  a  year;  and  it  is  farther 
added,  that  Madame  Schwallemberg  was  of  no  little  service 


IO6  CHAPTER    IV 

"And  yet  of  all  the  extra  expenditure  which 
the  dignity  and  circumstances  of  Maria  Antoinette 
exacted,  not  a  franc  came  from  the  public  treasury ; 
but  everything  out  of  her  majesty's  private  purse 
and  savings  from  the  above  three  hundred 
thousand  francs,  which  was  an  infinitely  less  sum 
than  Louis  XIV.  had  lavished  yearly  on  the 
Duchess  de  Montespan,  and  less  than  half  what 
Louis  XV.  had  expended  on  the  two  last  favourites, 
Pompadour  and  Du  Barry.  These  two  women,  as 
clearly  appeared  from  the  private  registers,  found 
among  the  papers  of  Louis  XV.  after  his  death, 
by  Louis  XVI.  (but  which,  out  of  respect  for  the 

to  herself  and  others,  in  exercising  the  brokership  of  these 
ecclesiastical  benefices. 

Now,  then,  for  all  this  outcry  against  the  extravagance 
of  the  Court  of  France,  levelled  in  particular  against  Maria 
Antoinette,  for  having  lavished  the  national  wealth,  upon 
which  pretext  her  life  was  made  a  scene  of  suffering,  and  her 
death  a  martyrdom !  Let  me  take  a  momentary  retrospect 
of  the  modest  expenses  of  her  murderers,  the  scrupulous 
sans  culottes,  who  succeeded  the  Court  of  Louis  XVI.  and 
committed  all  their  horrors  in  the  name  of  national 
economy;  for  here  is  the  record  taken  from  the  public 
register  of  the  500  tyrants,  mountebank  ragamuffins,  over- 
throwers  of  thrones,  king-killers,  and  sworn  enemies  of 
royalty,  slaves  to  the  five  buffoons  of  leaders,  whose  only 
virtue  was  that  of  wearing  a  filthy  shirt  a  month,  and  then 


CHAPTER   IV  107 

memory  of  his  grandfather,  he  destroyed),  these 
two  women  had  amassed  more  property  in  dia- 
monds and  other  valuables  than  all  the  Queens  of 
France  from  the  days  of  Catherine  de  Medicis  up 
to  those  of  Maria  Antoinette.1 

turning  it  for  the  comfort  and  enjoyment  of  clean  linen  next 
their  polluted  bodies! 

MINISTERIAL  PUBLIC  EXPENSES. 
30  millions  of  francs  au  ministre  de  la  justice. 

goo        „  „        &  celui  de  1'interieur. 

200        „  ,,        £  celui  des  finances. 

1200        „  „        &  celui  de  la  guerre. 

50        „  „        &  celui  des  relations  exterieures. 

600        „  „        £  celui  de  la  marine. 

Nearly  three  thousand  millions,  or  three  milliards,  besides  two 
millions  of  secret  service  money  in  that  particular  year,  which 
sometimes,  according  to  the  quantity  and  quality  of  their 
spies,  exceeded  this  sum,  but  which  never  was  less  during  this 
anarchial  government  of  miscreants.  I  have  appended  this 
trifling  account,  merely  to  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  what 
naturally  became  the  farther  expenses  with  which  the  nation 
was  afterwards  overburthened  to  support  these  regicide  sans 
culottes,  when,  in  the  short  time  which  elapsed  between  the 
plundering  bloody  government  of  Robespierre  and  the  return 
to  a  taste  for  culottes,  no  less  a  sum  than  20  louis  was  expended 
on  the  mere  embroidery  of  the  flaps  of  one  pair  for  the 
public  service! 

i  The  pensions  and  private  landed  property  which  Du 
Barry  was  allowed  to  enjoy  unmolested  till  the  fatal  period 
of  the  Revolution ;  besides  that  of  her  predecessor ;  being 
divided  at  her  death  among  different  branches  of  her  nearest 
relations,  has  continued  ever  since  their  legitimate  inheritance. 


IO8  CHAPTER   IV 

"  Such  was  the  goodness  of  heart  of  the 
excellent  Queen  of  Louis  XVI.,  such  the  bene- 
volence of  her  character,  that  not  only  did  she 
pay  all  the  pensions  of  the  invalids  left  by  her 
predecessors,  but  she  distributed  in  public  and 
private  charities  greater  sums  than  any  of  the 
former  Queens,  thus  increasing  her  expenses  with- 
out any  proportionate  augmentation  of  her  re- 
sources.1 

I  Indeed,  could  Louis  XVI.  have  foreseen — when,  in 
order  not  to  expose  the  character  of  his  predecessor  and  to 
honour  the  dignity  of  the  throne  and  monarchy  of  France, 
he  destroyed  the  papers  of  his  grandfather — what  an  arm  of 
strength  he  would  have  possessed  in  preserving  them,  against 
the  accusers  of  his  unfortunate  Queen  and  himself,  he  never 
could  have  thrown  away  such  means  of  establishing  a  most 
honourable  contrast  between  his  own  and  former  reigns.  His 
career  exhibits  no  superfluous  expenditure.  Its  economy 
was  most  rigid.  No  sovereign  was  ever  more  scrupulous 
with  the  public  money.  He  never  had  any  public  or  private 
predilection ;  no  dilapidated  minister  for  a  favourite ;  no 
courtezan  intrigue.  For  gaming  he  had  no  fondness  ;  and,  if 
his  abilities  were  not  splendid,  he  certainly  had  no  pre- 
dominating vices. 


CHAPTER    IV  ICQ 


NOTE. 

I  must  once  more  quit  the  journal  of  the  Princess. 
Her  highness  here  ceases  to  record  particulars  of  the 
early  part  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XVI.  and  everything 
essential  upon  those  times  is  too  well  known  to  render 
it  desirable  to  detain  the  reader  by  an  attempt  to  supply 
the  deficiency.  It  is  enough  to  state  that  the  secret 
unhappiness  of  the  Queen  at  not  yet  having  the  assur- 
ance of  an  heir  was  by  no  means  weakened  by  the 
impatience  of  the  people,  nor  by  the  accouchement 
of  the  Countess  d'Artois  of  the  Duke  d'Angouleme. 
While  the  Queen  continued  the  intimacy,  and  even 
held  her  parties  at  the  apartments  of  the  Duchess 
that  she  might  watch  over  her  friend,  even  in  this 
triumph  over  herself  the  poissardes  grossly  insulted  her 
in  her  misfortune,  and  coarsely  called  on  her  to  give 
heirs  to  the  throne! 

A  consolation,  however,  for  the  unkind  feeling  of 
the  populace  was  about  to  arise  in  the  delights  of  one 
of  her  strongest  friendships.  I  am  come  to  the  epoch 
when  Her  Majesty  first  formed  an  acquaintance  with 
the  Princess  Lamballe. 

After  a  few  words  of  my  own  on  the  family  of  her 
highness,  I  shall  leave  her  to  pursue  her  beautiful 


HO  CHAPTER   IV 

and  artless  narrative  of  her  parentage,  early  sorrows, 
and  introduction  to  Her  Majesty,  unbroken. 

The  journal  of  the  history  of  Maria  Antoinette, 
after  this  slight  interruption  for  the  private  history 
of  her  friend,  will  become  blended  with  the  journal 
of  the  Princess  Lamballe,  and  both  thenceforward 
proceed  in  their  course  together,  like  their  destinies, 
which  from  that  moment  never  became  disunited. 


CHAPTER  V 

NOTES  OF  THE  EDITOR — FAMILY  QF  THE   PRINCESS  LAM- 

BALLE  JOURNAL  RESUMED  HER  OWN  ACCOUNT    OF 

HERSELF DUKE    AND    DUCHESS    DE    PENTHIEVRE 

MADEMOISELLE  DE  PENTHIEVRE  AND  PRINCE  LAM- 
BALLE — KING  OF  SARDINIA — INGENIOUS  AND  ROMANTIC 
ANECDOTES  OF  THE  PRINCESS  LAMBALLE*S  MARRIAGE 
—  THE  DUKE  DE  CHARTRES,  AFTERWARDS  ORLEANS, 
MARRIES  MADEMOISELLE  DE  PENTHIEVRE — DE  CHAR- 
TRES MAKES  APPROACHES  TO  THE  PRINCESS  LAMBALLE 
— BEING  SCORNED,  CORRUPTS  HER  HUSBAND — PRINCE 

LAMBALLE    DIES SLEDGE    PARTIES THE    PRINCESS 

BECOMES  ACQUAINTED  WITH  THE  QUEEN — IS  MADE 
HER  MAJESTY'S  SUPERINTENDENT 

MARIA  THERESA  LOUISA  CARIGNAN,  Princess 
of  Savoy,  was  born  at  Turin  on  the  8th  Septem- 
ber, 1749. 

She  had  three  sisters :  two  of  them  were 
married  at  Rome,  one  to  the  Prince  Doria  Pamfili, 
the  other  to  the  Prince  Colonna;  and  the  third,  at 
Vienna,  to  the  Prince  Lobkowitz,  whose  son  was 
the  great  patron  of  the  immortal  Haydn,1  the 

l  The  celebrated  Haydn  was,  even  at  the  age  of  74,  when 
I  last  saw  him  at  Vienna,  still  the  most  good-humoured  ban 


112  CHAPTER   V 

celebrated  composer.  She  had  a  brother  also,  the 
Prince  Carignan,  who,  marrying  against  the 
consent  of  his  family,  was  no  longer  received  by 
them  ;  but  the  unremitting  and  affectionate 
attention  which  the  Princess  Lamballe  paid  to 
him  and  his  new  connections  was  an  ample  com- 

vivant  of  his  age.  He  delighted  in  telling  the  origin  of  his 
good  fortune,  which  he  said  he  entirely  owed  to  a  bad  wife  1 

When  he  was  first  married,  he  said,  finding  no  remedy 
against  domestic  squabbles,  he  used  to  quit  his  bad  hah  and 
go  and  enjoy  himself  with  his  good  friends,  who  were  Hun- 
garians and  Germans,  for  weeks  together.  Once,  having 
returned  home  after  a  considerable  absence,  his  wife,  while 
he  was  in  bed  next  morning,  followed  her  husband's  example : 
she  did  even  more,  for  she  took  all  his  clothes,  even  to  his 
shoes,  stockings,  and  small  clothes,  nay,  everything  he  had, 
along  with  her  I  Thus  situated,  he  was  under  the  necessity 
of  doing  something  to  cover  his  nakedness ;  and  this,  he 
himself  acknowledged,  was  the  first  cause  of  his  seriously 
applying  himself  to  the  profession  which  has  since  made  his 
name  immortal. 

He  used  to  laugh,  saying,  "  I  was  from  that  time  so 
habituated  to  study  that  my  wife,  often  fearing  it  would 
injure  me,  would  threaten  me  with  the  same  operation 
if  I  did  not  go  out  and  amuse  myself;  but  then,"  added  he, 
"  I  was  grown  old,  and  she  was  sick  and  no  longer  jealous." 
He  spoke  remarkably  good  Italian,  though  he  had  never  been 
in  Italy,  and  on  my  going  to  Vienna  to  hear  his  "  Creation," 
he  promised  to  accompany  me  back  to  Italy ;  but  he  unfor- 
tunately died  before  I  returned  to  Vienna  from  Carlsbad. 


CHAPTER   V  113 

pensation  for  the  loss  he  sustained  in  the  severity 
of  his  other  sisters.1 

With  regard  to  the  early  life  of  the  Princess 
Lamballe,  the  arranger  of  these  pages  must  now 
leave  her  to  pursue  her  own  beautiful  and  artless 
narrative  unbroken,  up  to  the  epoch  of  her 
appointment  to  the  household  of  the  Queen.  It 
will  be  recollected  that  the  papers  of  which  the 
reception  has  been  already  described  in  the 
introduction  formed  the  private  journal  of  this 
most  amiable  princess  ;  and  those  passages 
relating  to  her  own  early  life  being  the  most 
connected  part  of  them,  it  has  been  thought  that 
to  disturb  them  would  be  a  kind  of  sacrilege. 
After  the  appointment  of  her  highness  to  the 
superintendence  of  th  Queen's  household,  her 
manuscripts  again  become  confused,  and  fall  into 
scraps  and  fragments,  which  will  require  to  be 
once  more  rendered  clear  by  the  recollections  of 

i  If  I  mistake  not,  the  present  Prince  Carignan,  famous 
in  the  late  history  of  Piedmont,  is  a  son  of  that  marriage, 
the  same  who  is  now  distinguished  by  the  title  of  "Prince 
of  the  Epaulets  of  a  French  soldier  of  the  Trocadero." 

The  Prince  Carignan  I  speak  of  has  been  united  to  the 
daughter  of  the  late  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  and  is  now 
the  only  male  heir  to  the  crown  of  Sardinia,  Piedmont, 
Savoy,  &c. 

VO!.  I.  8 


114  CHAPTER    V 

events  and  conversations  by  which  the  preceding 
chapters  have  been  assisted. 

"I  was  the  favourite  child  of  a  numerous 
family,  and  intended,  almost  at  my  birth — as  is 
generally  the  case  among  princes  who  are  nearly 
allied  to  crowned  heads — to  be  united  to  one  of 
the  Princes,  my  near  relation,  of  the  royal  house 
of  Sardinia. 

"  A  few  years  after  this,  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
de  Penthievre  arrived  at  Turin,  on  their  way  to 
Italy,  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  the  different 
Courts,  to  make  suitable  marriage  contracts  for 
both  their  infant  children. 

"These  two  children  were  Mademoiselle  de 
Penthievre,  afterwards  the  unhappy  Duchess  of 
Orleans,  and  their  idolized  son,  the  Prince  Lam- 
balle.1 

"  Happy  would  it  have  been  both  for  the 
Prince  who  was  destined  to  the  former  and 

I  The  father  of  Louis  Alexander  Joseph  Stanislaus  de 
Bourbon  Penthievre,  Prince  Lamballe,  was  the  son  of  the 
Count  de  Toulouse,  himself  a  natural  son  of  Louis  XIV. 
and  Madame  de  Montespan,  who  was  considered  as  the 
most  wealthy  of  all  the  natural  children,  in  consequence 
of  Madame  de  Montespan  having  artfully  entrapped  the 
famous  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier  to  make  over  her 
immense  fortune  to  him  as  her  heir  after  her  death,  as  the 


CHAPTER    V  115 

the  Princess  who  was  given  to  the  latter,  had 
these  unfortunate  alliances  never  taken  place. 

"  The  Duke  and  Duchess  de  Penthievre  became 
so  singularly  attached  to  my  beloved  parents,  and, 
in  particular,  to  myself,  that  the  very  day  they 
first  dined  at  the  Court  of  Turin,  they  mentioned 
the  wish  they  had  formed,  of  uniting  me  to  their 
young  son,  the  Prince  Lamballe. 

"  The  King  of  Sardinia,  as  the  head  of  the 
house  of  Savoy  and  Carignan,  said  there  had  been 
some  conversation  as  to  my  becoming  a  member 
of  his  royal  family ;  but,  as  I  was  so  very  young 
at  the  time,  many  political  reasons  might  arise 
to  create  motives  for  a  change  in  the  projected 
alliance.  '  If,  therefore,  the  Prince  Carignan,' 
said  the  King,  '  be  anxious  to  settle  his  daughter's 
marriage,  by  any  immediate  matrimonial  alliance, 
I  certainly  shall  not  avail  myself  of  any  prior 
engagement,  nor  oppose  any  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  its  solemnization.' 

price  of  liberating  her  husband  from  imprisonment  in  the 
Bastille,  and  herself  from  a  ruinous  prosecution,  for  having 
contracted  this  marriage  contrary  to  the  express  commands 
of  her  royal  cousin,  Louis  XIV. —  Vide  Histoire  de  Louis  XIV. 
Par  Voltaire. 

8—2 


Il6  CHAPTER    V 

"  The  consent  of  the  King  being  thus  unex- 
pectedly obtained  by  the  Prince,  so  desirable  did 
the  arrangement  seem  to  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
that  the  next  day  the  contract  was  concluded 
with  my  parents  for  my  becoming  the  wife  of 
their  only  son,  the  Prince  Lamballe. 

"  I  was  too  young  to  be  consulted.  Perhaps, 
had  I  been  older  the  result  would  have  been  the 
same,  for  it  generally  happens  in  these  great 
family  alliances  that  the  parties  most  interested, 
and  whose  happiness  is  most  concerned,  are  the 
least  thought  of.  The  Prince  was,  I  believe,  at 
Paris,  under  the  tuition  of  his  governess,,  and  I 
was  in  the  nursery,  heedless,  and  totally  ignorant 
of  my  future  good  or  evil  destination  ! 

"  So  truly  happy  and  domestic  a  life  as  that 
led  by  the  Duke  and  Duchess  de  Penthievre 
seemed  to  my  family  to  offer  an  example  too  pro- 
pitious not  to  secure  to  me  a  degree  of  felicity 
with  a  private  prince,  very  rarely  the  result  of 
royal  unions  1  of  course,  their  consent  was  given 
with  alacrity.  When  I  was  called  upon  to  do 
homage  to  my  future  parents,  I  had  so  little  idea, 
from  my  extreme  youthfulness,  of  what  was  going 


CHAPTER    V  117 

on  that  1  set  them  all  laughing,  when,  on  being 
asked  if  I  should  like  to  become  the  consort  of  the 
Prince  Lamballe,  I  said,  '  Yes,  I  am  very  fond 
of  music ! ' — '  No,  my  dear,'  resumed  the  good 
and  tender-hearted  Duke  de  Penthievre,  '  I  mean, 
would  you  have  any  objection  to  become  his 
wife?' — 'No,  nor  any  other  person's!'  was  the 
innocent  reply,  which  increased  the  mirth  of  all 
the  guests  at  my  expense. 

"  Happy,  happy  days  of  youthful,  thoughtless 
innocence,  luxuriously  felt  and  appreciated  under 
the  thatched  root  of  the  cottage,  but  unknown 
and  unattainable  beneath  the  massive  pile  of  a 
royal  palace  and  a  gemmed  crown  !  Scarcely 
had  I  entered  my  teens  when  my  adopted  parents 
strewed  flowers  01  the  sweetest  fragrance  to  lead 
me  to  the  sacred  altar,  that  promised  the  bliss 
of  blisses,  but  which,  too  soon,  from  the  foul 
machinations  of  envy,  jealousy,  avarice,  and  a 
still  more  criminal  passion,  proved  to  me  the  altar 
of  my  sacrifice! 

"  My  misery  and  my  uninterrupted  grief  may 
be  dated  from  the  day  my  beloved  sister-in-law, 
Mademoiselle  de  Penthievre,  sullied  her  hand  by  its 


Il8  CHAPTER    V 

union  with  the  Duke  de  Chartres.1  From  that 
moment  all  comfort,  all  prospect  of  connubial 
happiness,  left  my  young  and  affectionate  heart, 
plucked  thence  by  the  very  roots,  never  more 
again  to  bloom  there.  Religion  and  philosophy 
were  the  only  remedies  remaining. 

"  I  was  a  bride  when  an  infant,  a  wife  before 
I  was  a  woman,  a  widow  before  I  was  a  mother, 
or  had  the  prospect  of  becoming  one  !  Our 
union  was,  perhaps,  an  exception  to  the  general 
rule.  We  became  insensibly  the  more  attached 
to  each  other  the  more  we  were  acquainted, 
which  rendered  the  more  severe  the  separation, 
when  we  were  torn  asunder  never  to  meet  again 
in  this  world  ! 

"  After  I  left  Turin,  though  everything  for  my 
reception  at  the  palaces  of  Toulouse  and  Ram- 
bouillet  had  been  prepared  in  the  most  sumptuous 
style  of  magnificence,  yet  such  was  my  agitation 
that  I  remained  convulsively  speechless  for  many 
hours,  and  all  the  affectionate  attention  of  the 

i  Afterwards  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  the  celebrated 
revolutionary  Philip 


CHAPTER    V  119 

family  of  the  Duke  de  Penthievre  could  not  calm 
my  feelings. 

"Among  those  who  came  about  me  was  the 
bridegroom  himself,  whom  I  had  never  yet  seen. 
So  anxious  was  he  to  have  his  first  acquaintance 
incognito  that  he  set  off  from  Paris  the  moment  he 
was  apprised  of  my  arrival  in  France  and  presented 
himself  as  the  Prince's  page.  As  he  had  outgrown 
the  figure  of  his  portrait  I  received  him  as  such ; 
but  the  Prince,  being  better  pleased  with  me  than 
he  had  apprehended  he  should  be,  could  scarcely 
avoid  discovering  himself.  During  our  journey  to 
Paris  I  myself  disclosed  the  interest  with  which 
the  supposed  page  had  inspired  me.  '  I  hope,' 
exclaimed  I,  '  my  prince  will  allow  his  page  to 
attend  me,  for  I  like  him  much.' 

"  What  was  my  surprise  when  the  Duke  de 
Penthievre  presented  me  to  the  Prince  and  I  found 
in  him  the  page  for  whom  I  had  already  felt  such 
an  interest  1  We  both  laughed  and  wanted  words 
to  express  our  mutual  sentiments.  This  was  really 
love  at  first  sight.1 

i  The  young  Prince  was  enraptured  at  finding  his  lovely 
bride  so  superior  in  personal  charms  to  the  description  which 


120  CHAPTER    V 

"  The  Duke  de  Chartres,  then  possessing  a 
very  handsome  person  and  most  insinuating  ad- 
dress, soon  gained  the  affections  of  the  amiable 
Mademoiselle  Penthievre.  Becoming  thus  a  mem- 
ber of  the  same  family,  he  paid  me  the  most 
assiduous  attention.  From  my  being  his  sister-in- 
law,  and  knowing  he  was  aware  of  my  great 
attachment  to  his  young  wife,  I  could  have  no 
idea  that  his  views  were  criminally  levelled  at  my 
honour,  my  happiness,  and  my  future  peace  of 

had  been  given  of  her,  and  even  to  the  portrait  sent  to  him 
from  Turin.  Indeed,  she  must  have  been  a  most  beautiful 
creature,  for  when  I  left  her  in  the  year  1792,  though  then 
five-and-forty  years  of  age,  from  the  freshness  of  her  com- 
plexion, the  elegance  of  her  figure,  and  the  dignity  of  her 
deportment,  she  certainly  did  not  appear  to  be  more  than 
thirty.  She  had  a  fine  head  of  hair,  and  she  took  great 
pleasure  in  showing  it  unornamented.  I  remember  one  day, 
on  her  coming  hastily  from  the  bath,  as  she  was  putting  on 
her  dress,  her  cap  falling  off,  her  hair  completely  covered  her  1 
The  circumstances  of  her  death  always  make  me  shudder 
at  the  recollection  of  this  incident !  I  have  been  assured  by 
Mesdames  Mackau,  de  Soucle,  the  Countess  de  Noailles  (not 
Duchess,  as  Mademoiselle  Bertin  has  created  her  in  her 
Memoirs  of  that  name),  and  others,  that  the  Princess 
Lamballe  was  considered  the  most  beautiful  and  accomplished 
Princess  at  the  Court  of  Louis  XV.,  adorned  with  all  the  grace, 
virtue,  and  elegance  of  manner  which  so  eminently  dis- 
tinguished her  through  life. 


CHAPTER    V  121 

mind.  How,  therefore,  was  I  astonished  and 
shocked  when  he  discovered  to  me  his  desire  to 
supplant  the  legitimate  obiect  of  my  affections, 
whose  love  for  me  equalled  mine  for  him  !  I  did 
not  expose  this  baseness  of  the  Duke  de  Chartres 
out  of  filial  affection  for  my  adopted  father,  the 
Duke  de  Penthievre ;  out  of  the  love  I  bore  his 
amiable  daughter,  she  being  pregnant;  and  above 
all  in  consequence  of  the  fear  I  was  under  of 
compromising  the  life  of  the  Prince  my  husband, 
who  I  apprehended  might  be  lost  to  me  if  I  did 
not  suffer  in  silence.  But  still,  through  my  silence 
he  was  lost — and  oh,  how  dreadfully !  The  Prince 
was  totally  in  the  dark  as  to  the  real  character 
of  his  brother-in-law.  He  blindly  became  every 
day  more  and  more  attached  to  the  man,  who 
was  then  endeavouring  by  the  foulest  means  to 
blast  the  fairest  prospects  of  his  future  happiness 
in  life !  But  my  guardian  angel  protected  me 
from  becoming  a  victim  to  seduction,  defeating 
every  attack  by  that  prudence  which  has  hitherto 
been  my  invincible  shield. 

"  Guilt   unpunished   in   its   first  crime,    rushes 
onward,  and  hurrying  from  one  misdeed  to  another, 


122  CHAPTER    V 

like  the  flood-tide,  drives  all  before  it !  My  silence 
and  his  being  defeated  without  reproach,  armed  him 
with  courage  for  fresh  daring,  and  he  too  well 
succeeded  in  embittering  the  future  days  of  my 
life,  as  well  as  those  of  his  own  affectionate  wife, 
and  his  illustrious  father-in-law,  the  virtuous  Duke 
de  Penthievre,  who  was  to  all  a  father. 

"  To  revenge  himself  upon  me  for  the  repulse 
he  met  with,  this  man  inveigled  my  young,  in- 
experienced husband  from  his  bridal  bed  to  those 
infected  with  the  nauseous  poison  of  every  vice ! 
Poor  youth !  he  soon  became  the  prey  of  every  re- 
finement upon  dissipation  and  studied  debauchery, 
till  at  length  his  sufferings  made  his  life  a  burthen, 
and  he  died  in  the  most  excruciating  agonies  both 
of  mind  and  body,  in  the  arms  of  a  disconsolate 
wife  and  a  distracted  father — and  thus,  in  a  few 
short  months,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  was  I  left  a 
widow  to  lament  my  having  become  a  wife ! 

"  I  was  in  this  situation,  retired  from  the  world 
and  absorbed  in  grief,  with  the  ever  beloved  and 
revered  illustrious  father  of  my  murdered  lord, 
endeavouring  to  soothe  his  pangs  for  the  loss  of 
those  comforts  in  a  child  with  which  my  cruel 


CHAPTER    V  123 

disappointment  forbade  my  ever  being  blest — 
though,  in  the  endeavour  to  soothe,  I  often  only 
aggravated  both  his  and  my  own  misery  at  our 
irretrievable  loss — when  a  ray  of  unexpected  light 
burst  upon  my  dreariness.  It  was  amid  this  gloom 
of  human  agony,  these  heart-rending  scenes  of  real 
mourning,  that  the  brilliant  star  shone  to  disperse 
the  clouds,  which  hovered  over  our  drooping  heads, 
— to  dry  the  hot  briny  tears  which  were  parching 
up  our  miserable  vegetating  existence — it  was  in 
this  crisis  that  Maria  Antoinette  came,  like  a 
messenger  sent  down  from  Heaven,  graciously  to 
offer  the  balm  of  comfort  in  the  sweetest  language 
of  human  compassion.  The  pure  emotions  of  her 
generous  soul  made  her  unceasing,  unremitting,  in 
her  visits  to  two  mortals  who  must  else  have 
perished  under  the  weight  of  their  misfortunes. 
But  for  the  consolation  of  her  warm  friendship 
we  must  have  sunk  into  utter  despair! 

"  From  that  moment  I  became  seriously  attached 
to  the  Queen  of  France.  She  dedicated  a  great 
portion  of  her  time  to  calm  the  anguish  of  my 
poor  heart,  though  I  had  not  yet  accepted  the 
honour  of  becoming  a  member  of  Her  Majesty's 


124  CHAPTER    V 

household.  Indeed,  I  was  a  considerable  time 
before  I  could  think  of  undertaking  a  charge  I 
felt  myself  so  completely  incapable  of  fulfilling.1 
I  endeavoured  to  check  the  tears  that  were  pour- 
ing down  my  cheeks,  to  conceal  in  the  Queen's 
presence  the  real  feelings  of  my  heart,  but  the 
effort  only  served  to  increase  my  anguish  when 
she  had  departed.  Her  attachment  to  me,  and 
the  cordiality  with  which  she  distinguished  herself 
towards  the  Duke  de  Penthievre,  gave  her  a  place 

I  I  am  under  the  necessity  of  correcting  an  error  of 
Madame  Campan's  in  vcl«  i.  page  129. — The  Queen  had  been 
long  attached  to  the  Princess  Lamballe  before  the  sledge 
parties  took  place,  though  it  was  only  during  that  amusement 
that  the  superintendence  of  the  household  of  the  Queen  was 
revived  in  her  favour.  It  is  not  at  all  likely,  from  the  un- 
limited authority  and  power  which  the  situation  gave  a 
superintendent  over  Her  Majesty,  that  the  Queen,  who  was 
so  scrupulously  particular  with  respect  to  the  meanest  of  the 
persons  who  held  any  charge  in  her  household,  should  have 
placed  herself  under  the  immediate  control  of  one  whose 
office  might  itself  be  a  check  upon  her  own  movements  with- 
out first  being  thoroughly  assured  of  the  principles,  morals, 
character,  and  general  conduct  of  the. individual  destined  to 
a  post  of  such  importance.  Nothing  can  be  more  absurd 
than  to  believe  that  the  Queen  could  have  been  so  heedless 
as  to  have  nominated  the  Princess  Lamballe  her  superinten- 
dent ex  abrupta  merely  because  she  was  the  Princess 
Lamballe. 


CHAPTER    V  125 

in  that  heart,  which  had  been  chilled  by  the  fatal 
vacuum  left  by  its  first  inhabitant ;  and  Maria 
Antoinette  was  the  only  rival  through  life  that 
usurped  his  pretensions,  though  she  could  never 
wean  me  completely  from  his  memory. 

"  My  health,  from  the  melancholy  life  I  led, 
had  so  much  declined  that  my  affectionate  father, 
the  Duke  de  Penthievre,  with  whom  I  continued 
to  reside,  was  anxious  that  I  should  emerge  from 
my  retirement  for  the  benefit  of  my  health.  Sen- 
sible of  his  affection,  and  having  always  honoured 
his  counsels,  I  took  his  advice  in  this  instance. 
It  being  in  the  hard  winter,  when  so  many  persons 
were  out  of  bread,  the  Queen,  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans,  the  Duke  de  Penthievre,  and  myself, 
introduced  the  German  sledges,  in  which  we  were 
followed  by  most  of  the  nobility  and  the  rich 
citizens.  This  afforded  considerable  employment 
to  different  artificers.  The  first  use  I  made  of 
my  own  new  vehicle  was  to  visit,  in  company 
of  the  Duke  de  Penthievre,  the  necessitious  poor 
families  and  our  pensioners.  In  the  course  of  our 
rounds  we  met  the  Queen. 

" '  I    suppose,'    exclaimed    Her    Majesty,   '  you 


126  CHAPTER    V 

also  are  laying  a  good  foundation  for  my  work ! 
Heavens  !  what  must  the  poor  feel  !  I  am 
wrapped  up  like  a  diamond  in  a  box,  covered 
with  furs,  and  yet  I  am  chilled  with  cold  !  * 

" '  That  feeling  sentiment,'  said  the  Duke, 
'  will  soon  warm  many  a  cold  family's  heart 
with  gratitude  to  bless  your  Majesty  !  ' 

" '  Why,  yes,'  replied  Her  Majesty,  showing 
a  long  piece  of  paper  containing  the  names  of 
those  to  whom  she  intended  to  afford  relief — '  I 
have  only  collected  two  hundred  yet  on  my  list, 
but  the  cur6  will  do  the  rest  and  help  me  to 
draw  the  strings  of  my  privy  purse !  But  I  have 
not  half  done  my  rounds.  I  daresay  before  I 
return  to  Versailles  I  shall  have  as  many  more, 
and,  since  we  are  engaged  in  the  same  business, 
pray  come  into  my  sledge  and  do  not  take  my 
work  out  of  my  hands !  Let  me  have  for  once 
the  merit  of  doing  something  good  !  ' 

"  On  the  coming  up  of  a  number  of  other 
vehicles  belonging  to  the  sledge  party,  the  Queen 
added,  '  Do  not  say  anything  about  what  I  have 
been  telling  you  1 '  for  Her  Majesty  never  wished 
what  she  did  in  the  way  of  charity  or  donations 


CHAPTER    V  127 

should  be  publicly  known,  the  old  pensioners 
excepted,  who,  being  on  the  list,  could  not  be 
concealed  ;  especially  as  she  continued  to  pay  all 
those  she  found  of  the  late  Queen  of  Louis  XV. 
She  was  remarkably  delicate  and  timid  with  respect 
to  hurting  the  feelings  of  anyone;  and,  fearing  the 
Duke  de  Penthievre  might  not  be  pleased  at  her 
pressing  me  to  leave  him  in  order  to  join  her, 
she  said,  'Well,  I  will  let  you  off,  Princess,  on 
your  both  promising  to  dine  with  me  at  Trianon  ; 
for  the  King  is  hunting,  not  deer,  but  wood  for 
the  poor,  and  he  will  see  his  game  off  to  Paris 
before  he  comes  back.1 

"  The  Duke  begged  to  be  excused,  but  wished 
me  to  accept  the  invitation,  which  I  did,  and 
we  parted,  each  to  pursue  our  different  sledge 
excursions. 

"  At  the  hour  appointed,  I  made  my  appear- 
ance at  Trianon,  and  had  the  honour  to  dine 
tete-a-tete  with  Her  Majesty,  which  was  much  more 
congenial  to  my  feelings  than  if  there  had  been 
a  party,  as  I  was  still  very  low-spirited  and 
unhappy. 

"  After   dinner,    '  My   dear   Princess,'   said   the 


128  CHAPTER    V 

Queen  to  me,  'at  your  time  of  life  you  must  not 
give  yourself  up  entirely  to  the  dead.  You  wrong 
the  living.  We  have  not  been  sent  into  the  world 
for  ourselves.  I  have  felt  much  for  your  situation, 
and  still  do  so,  and  therefore  hope,  as  long  as  the 
weather  permits,  that  you  will  favour  me  with  your 
company  to  <  nlar^e  our  sledge  excursions.  The 
King  and  my  dear  sister  Elizabeth  are  also 
much  interested  about  your  coming  on  a  visit  to 
Versailles.  What  think  you  of  our  plan  ?  ' 

"  I  thanked  Her  Majesty,  the  King,  and  the 
Princess,  for  their  kindness,  but  I  observed  that 
my  state  of  health  and  mind  could  so  little  corre- 
spond in  any  way  with  the  gratitude  I  should  owe 
them  for  their  royal  favours  that  I  trusted  a 
refusal  would  be  attributed  to  the  fact  of  my 
consciousness  how  much  rather  my  society  must 
prove  an  annoyance  and  a  burthen  than  a  source 
of  pleasure. 

"  My  tears  flowing  down  my  cheeks  rapidly 
while  I  was  speaking,  the  Queen,  with  that  kind- 
ness for  which  she  was  so  eminently  distinguished, 
took  me  by  the  hand,  and  with  her  handkerchief 
dried  my  face. 


CHAPTER    V  129 

" '  I  am,'  said  the  Queen,  '  about  to  renew 
a  situation,  which  has  for  some  time  past  lain 
dormant;  and  I  hope,  my  dear  Princess,  there- 
with to  establish  my  own  private  views,  in  form- 
ing the  happiness  of  a  worthy  individual.' 

"  I  replied  that  such  a  plan  must  insure 
Her  Majesty  the  desired  object  she  had  in  view, 
as  no  individual  could  be  otherwise  than  happy 
under  the  immediate  auspices  of  so  benevolent  and 
generous  a  Sovereign. 

"  The  Queen,  with  great  affability,  as  if  pleased 
with  my  observation,  only  said,  '  If  you  really  think 
as  you  speak,  my  views  are  accomplished.' 

"  My  carriage  was  announced,  and  I  then  left 
Her  Majesty,  highly  pleased  at  her  gracious  con- 
descension, which  evidently  emanated  from  the 
kind  wish  to  raise  my  drooping  spirits  from 
their  melancholy. 

"Gratitude  would  not  permit  me  to  continue 
long  without  demonstrating  to  Her  Majesty  the 
sentiments  her  kindness  had  awakened  in  my 
heart. 

"  I  returned  next  day  with  my  sister-in-law, 
the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  who  was  much  esteemed 

VOL.     I  g 


130  CHAPTER   V 

by  the  Queen,  and  we  joined  the  sledge  parties 
with  Her  Majesty. 

"  On  the  third  or  fourth  day  of  these  excur- 
sions I  again  had  the  honour  to  dine  with  Her 
Majesty,  when,  in  the  presence  of  the  Princess 
Elizabeth,  she  asked  me  if  I  were  still  of  the  same 
opinion  with  respect  to  the  person  it  was  her 
intention  to  add  to  her  household  ? 

"  I  myself  had  totally  forgotten  the  topic  and 
entreated  Her  Majesty's  pardon  for  my  want  of 
memory,  and  begged  she  would  signify  to  what 
subject  she  alluded. 

"  The  Princess  Elizabeth  laughed.  '  I  thought,' 
cried  she,  '  that  you  had  known  it  long  ago  i  The 
Queen,  with  His  Majesty's  consent,  has  nominated 
you,  my  dear  Princess  (embracing  me),  superin- 
tendent of  her  household.' 

"  The  Queen,  also  embracing  me,  said,  '  Yes ; 
it  is  very  true.  You  said  the  individual  destined 
to  such  a  situation  could  not  be  otherwise  than 
happy ;  and  I  am  myself  thoroughly  happy  in 
being  able  thus  to  contribute  towards  rendering 
you  so.' 

"I    was    perfectly    at    a   loss    for   a    moment 


CHAPTER   V  131 

or  two,  but,  recovering  myself  from  the  effect  of 
this  unexpected  and  unlocked  for  preferment,  I 
thanked  Her  Majesty  with  the  best  grace  I  was 
able  for  such  an  unmerited  mark  of  distinction. 

"  The  Queen,  perceiving  my  embarrassment, 
observed,  '  I  knew  I  should  surprise  you ;  but  I 
thought  your  being  established  at  Versailles  much 
more  desirable  for  one  of  your  rank  and  youth 
than  to  be,  as  you  were,  with  the  Duke  de 
Penthievre ;  who,  much  as  I  esteem  his  amiable 
character  and  numerous  great  virtues,  is  by  no 
means  the  most  cheering  companion  for  my 
charming  Princess.  From  this  moment  let  our 
friendships  be  united  in  the  common  interest  of 
each  other's  happiness.' 

"  The  Queen  took  me  by  the  hand.  The 
Princess  Elizabeth,  joining  hers,  exclaimed  to 
the  Queen,  '  Oh,  my  dear  sister  !  let  me  make 
the  trio  in  this  happy  union  of  friends  !  ' 

"  In  the  society  of  her  adored  Majesty  and 
of  her  saint-like  sister  Elizabeth  I  have  found 
my  only  balm  of  consolation  1  Their  graciously 
condescending  to  sympathise  in  the  grief  with 
which  I  was  overwhelmed  from  the  cruel  dis- 

9— a 


132  CHAPTER   V 

appointment  of  my  first  love,  filled  up  in  some 
degree  the  vacuum  left  by  his  loss,  who  was  so 
prematurely  ravished  from  me  in  the  flower  of 
youth,  leaving  me  a  widow  at  eighteen ;  and  though 
that  loss  is  one  I  never  can  replace  or  forget,  the 
poignancy  of  its  effect  has  been  in  a  great  degree 
softened  by  the  kindnesses  of  my  excellent  father- 
in-law,  the  Duke  de  Penthievre,  and  the  relations 
resulting  from  my  situation  with,  and  the  never- 
ceasing  attachment  of  my  beloved  royal  mistress. 


CHAPTER    VI 

OBSERVATIONS  OF  THE  EDITOR  ON  THE  VARIOUS  PARTIES 
AGAINST  LAMBALLE  IN  CONSEQUENCE  OF  HER  APPOINT- 
MENT— ITS  INJURY  TO  THE  QUEEN — PARTICULARS  OF 
LAMBALLE,  THE  DUTIES  OF  HER  OFFICE,  AND  HER 
CONDUCT  IN  IT — THE  POLIGNACS — CHARACTER  OF  THE 

COUNTESS     DIANA. JOURNAL    RESUMED  —  ACCOUMT     OF 

THE  FIRST  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  QUEEN  OF  THE 
DUCHESS  JULIE  DE  POLIGNAC — THE  QUEEN'S  SUDDEN 
AND  VIOLENT  ATTACHMENT  TO  HER CALUMNIES  RE- 
SULTING FROM  IT REMARK  ON  FEMALE  FRIENDSHIPS 

LAMBALLE    RECEDES    FROM    THE    QUEEN'S    INTIMACY 

AT     THE     DUKE'S     (HER    FATHER-IN-LAW)     is]    NEAR 

FALLING   A   VICTIM   TO    POISON ALARM    OF   THE    QUEEN, 

WHO    GOES   TO    HER    AND    FORCES    HER     BACK    TO    COURT 

HER   MAJESTY  ANNOYED   AT  LAMBALLE's    NOT  VISITING 

THE  POLIGNACS — HER  REASONS — THE  ABB]-!  VERMOND 
RETIRES  AND  RETURNS 

THE  connexion  of  the  Princess  Lamballe  with 
the  Queen,  of  which  she  has  herself  described  the 
origin  in  the  preceding  chapter,  proved  so  impor- 
tant in  its  influence  upon  the  reputation  and  fate 
of  both  these  illustrious  victims,  that  I  must  once 
more  withdraw  the  attention  of  the  reader,  to 


134  CHAPTER   VI 

explain,  from  personal  observation  and  confidential 
disclosures,  the  leading  causes  of  the  violent  dislike 
which  was  kindled  in  the  public  against  an  intimacy, 
that  it  would  have  been  most  fortunate  had  Her 
Majesty  preferred  through  life  to  every  other. 

The  selection  of  a  friend  by  the  Queen,  and 
the  sudden  elevation  of  that  friend  to  the  highest 
station  in  the  royal  household  could  not  fail  to  alarm 
the  selfishness  of  courtiers,  who  always  feel  them- 
selves injured  by  the  favour  shown  to  others.  An 
obsolete  office  was  revived  in  favour  of  the  Princess 
Lamballe.  In  the  time  of  Maria  Leckzinska,  wife 
of  Louis  XV.,  the  office  of  superintendent,  then 
held  by  Mademoiselle  de  Clermont,  was  suppressed 
when  its  holder  died.  The  office  gave  a  control 
over  the  inclinations  of  queens  by  which  Maria 
Leckzinska  was  sometimes  inconvenienced ;  and 
it  had  lain  dormant  ever  since.  Its  restoration 
by  a  queen  who  it  was  believed  could  be  guided 
by  no  motive  but  the  desire  to  seek  pretexts  for 
showing  undue  favour,  was  of  course  eyed  askance, 
and  ere  long  openly  calumniated. 

The  Countess  de  Noailles,  who  never  could 
forget  the  title  the  Queen  gave  her  of  Madame 


CHAPTER   VI  135 

Etiquette,  nor  forgive  the  frequent  jokes  which  Her 
Majesty  passed  upon  her  antiquated  formality, 
availed  herself  of  the  opportunity  offered  by  her 
husband's  being  raised  to  the  dignity  of  Marshal 
of  France,  to  resign  her  situation  on  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  Princess  Lamballe  as  superintendent. 
The  Countess  retired  with  feelings  embittered 
against  her  royal  mistress,  and  her  annoyance  in 
the  sequel  ripened  into  enmity.  The  Countess 
was  attached  to  a  very  powerful  party,  not  only 
at  Court  but  scattered  throughout  the  kingdom. 
Her  discontent  arose  from  the  circumstance  of  no 
longer  having  to  take  her  orders  from  the  Queen 
direct  but  from  her  superintendent.  Ridiculous  as 
this  may  seem  to  an  impartial  observer,  it  created 
one  of  the  most  powerful  hostilities  against  which 
Her  Majesty  had  afterwards  to  contend. 

Though  the  Queen  esteemed  the  Countess 
de  Noailles  for  her  many  good  qualities,  yet  she 
was  so  much  put  out  of  her  wray  by  the  rigour 
with  which  the  Countess  enforced  forms,  which 
to  Her  Majesty  appeared  puerile  and  absurd, 
that  she  felt  relieved,  and  secretly  gratified,  by 
her  retirement.  It  will  be  shown  hereafter  to 


136  CHAPTER   VI 

what  an  excess  the  Countess  was  eventually 
carried  by  her  malice. 

One  of  the  popular  objections  to  the  revival 
of  the  office  of  superintendent  in  favour  of  the 
Princess  Lamballe  arose  from  its  reputed  extra- 
vagance. This  was  as  groundless  as  the  other 
charges  against  the  Queen,  The  etiquettes  of 
dress,  and  the  requisite  increase  of  every  other 
expense,  from  the  augmentation  of  every  article 
of  the  necessaries  as  well  as  the  luxuries  of  life, 
made  a  treble  difference  between  the  expenditure 
of  the  circumscribed  Court  of  Maria  Leckzinska 
and  that  of  Louis  XVI. ;  yet  the  Princess  Lam- 
balle received  no  more  salary1  than  had  been 
allotted  to  Mademoiselle  de  Clermont  in  the  self- 
same situation  half  a  century  before. 

So  far  from  possessing  the  slightest  pro- 
pensity either  to  extravagance  in  herself  or  to 
the  encouragement  of  extravagance  in  others,  the 

i  And  even  that  salary  she  never  appropriated  to  any 
private  use  of  her  own,  being  amply  supplied  through  the 
generous  bounty  of  her  father-in-law,  the  Duke  de  Penthievre ; 
and  latterly,  to  my  knowledge,  so  far  from  receiving  any  pay, 
she  often  paid  the  Queen's  and  Princess  Elizabeth's  bills  out 
of  her  own  purse. 


CHAPTER   VI  137 

Princess  Lamballe  was  a  model  of  prudence,  and 
upon  those  subjects,  as  indeed  upon  all  others, 
the  Queen  could  not  have  had  a  more  discreet 
counsellor.  She  eminently  contributed  to  the 
charities  of  the  Queen,  who  was  the  mother  of 
the  fatherless,  the  support  of  the  widow,  and 
the  general  protectress  and  refuge  of  suffering 
humanity.  Previous  to  the  purchase  of  any 
article  of  luxury,  the  Princess  would  call  for  the 
list  of  the  pensioners :  if  anything  were  due  on 
that  account,  it  was  instantly  paid,  and  the  luxury 
dispensed  with. 

She  never  made  her  appearance  in  the  Queen's 
apartments  except  at  established  hours.  This  was 
scrupulously  observed  till  the  Revolution.  Circum- 
stances then  obliged  her  to  break  through  forms. 
The  Queen  would  only  receive  communications, 
either  written  or  verbal,  upon  the  subjects  growing 
out  of  that  wretched  crisis,  in  the  presence  of  the 
Princess;  and  hence  her  apartments  were  open  to 
all  who  had  occasion  to  see  Her  Majesty.  This 
made  their  intercourse  more  constant  and  un- 
ceremonious. But  before  this,  the  Princess  only 
went  to  the  royal  presence  at  fixed  hours,  unless 


138  CHAPTER   VI 

she  had  memorials  to  present  to  the  King,  Queen, 
or  ministers,  in  favour  of  such  as  asked  for  justice 
or  mercy.  Hence,  whenever  the  Princess  entered 
before  the  stated  times,  the  Queen  would  run  and 
embrace  her,  and  exclaim  —  "  Well,  my  dear 
Princess  Lamballe  1  what  widow,  what  orphan, 
what  suffering,  or  oppressed  petitioner  am  I  to 
thank  for  this  visit  ?  for  I  know  you  never  come 
to  me  empty-handed  when  you  come  unex- 
pectedly 1" —  The  Princess,  on  these  occasions, 
often  had  the  petitioners  waiting  in  an  adjoining 
apartment,  that  they  might  instantly  avail  them- 
selves of  any  inclination  the  Queen  might  show  to 
see  them. 

Once  the  Princess  was  deceived  by  a  female 
painter  of  doubtful  character,  who  supplicated  her 
to  present  a  work  she  had  executed  to  the  Queen. 
I  myself  afterwards  returned  that  work  to  its  owner. 
Thenceforward,  the  Princess  became  very  rigid  in 
her  inquiries,  previous  to  taking  the  least  interest 
in  any  application,  or  consenting  to  present 
anyone  personally  to  the  King  or  Queen.  She 
required  thoroughly  to  be  informed  of  the  nature 
of  the  request,  and  of  the  merit  and  character  of 


CHAPTER   VI  139 

the  applicant,  before  she  would  attend  to  either. 
Owing  to  this  caution  Her  Highness  scarcely  ever 
after  met  with  a  negative.  In  cases  of  great 
importance,  though  the  Queen's  compassionate 
and  good  heart  needed  no  stimulus  to  impel  her 
to  forward  the  means  of  justice,  the  Princess 
would  call  the  influence  of  the  Princess  Elizabeth 
to  her  aid;  and  Elizabeth  never  sued  in  vain. 

Maria  Antoinette  paid  the  greatest  attention 
to  all  memorials.  They  were  regularly  collected 
every  week  by  Her  Majesty's  private  secretary, 
the  Abbe"  Vermond.  I  have  myself  seen  many  of 
them,  when  returned  from  the  Princess  Lamballe, 
with  the  Queen's  marginal  notes  in  her  own  hand- 
writing and  the  answers  dictated  by  Her  Majesty 
to  the  different  officers  of  the  departments  relative 
to  the  nature  of  the  respective  demands.  She 
always  recommended  the  greatest  attention  to  all 
public  documents,  and  annexed  notes  to  such  as 
passed  through  her  hands  to  prevent  their  being 
thrown  aside  or  lost. 

One  of  those  who  were  least  satisfied  with  the 
appointment  of  the  Princess  Lamballe  to  the  office 
of  superintendent  was  her  brother-in-law,  the  Duke 


140  CHAPTER   VI 

of  Orleans,  who,  having  attempted  her  virtue  on 
various  occasions  and  been  repulsed,  became 
mortified  and  alarmed  at  her  situation  as  a  check 
to  his  future  enterprise. 

At  one  time  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of 
Orleans  were  most  constant  and  assiduous  in 
their  attendance  on  Maria  Antoinette.  They  were 
at  all  her  parties.  The  Queen  was  very  fond  of 
the  Duchess.  It  is  supposed  that  the  interest 
Her  Majesty  took  in  that  lady  and  the  steps  to 
which  some  time  afterwards  that  interest  led, 
planted  the  first  seeds  of  the  unrelenting  and 
misguided  hostility  which,  in  the  deadliest  times 
of  the  Revolution,  animated  the  Orleanists  against 
the  throne. 

The  Duke  of  Orleans,  then  Duke  de  Chartres, 
was  never  a  favourite  of  the  Queen.  He  was  only 
tolerated  at  Court  on  account  of  his  wife  and  of 
the  great  intimacy  which  subsisted  between  him 
and  Count  d'Artois.  Louis  XVI.  had  often 
expressed  his  disapprobation  of  the  Duke's 
character,  which  his  conduct  daily  justified. 

The  Princess  Lamballe  could  have  no  cause 
to  think  of  her  brother-in-law  but  with  horror. 


CHAPTER   VI  141 

He  had  insulted  her,  and  in  revenge  at  his  defeat, 
had,  it  was  said,  deprived  her  by  the  most  awful 
means,  of  her  husband.  The  Princess  was  tenderly 
attached  to  her  sister-in-law,  the  Duchess.  Her 
attachment  could  not  but  make  her  look  very 
unfavourably  upon  the  circumstance  of  the  Duke's 
subjecting  his  wife  to  the  humiliation  of  residing 
in  the  palace  with  Madame  de  Genlis,  and  being 
forced  to  receive  a  person  of  morals  so  incorrect 
as  the  guardian  of  her  children.  The  Duchess 
had  complained  to  her  father,  the  Duke  de 
Penthievre,  in  the  presence  of  the  Princess 
Lamballe,  of  the  very  great  ascendancy  Madame 
de  Genlis  exercised  over  her  husband ;  and  had 
even  requested  the  Queen  to  use  her  influence 
in  detaching  the  Duke  from  this  connexion.1 
But  she  had  too  much  gentleness  of  nature  not 
presently  to  forget  her  resentment.  Being  much 
devoted  to  her  husband,  rather  than  irritate  him 
to  further  neglect  by  personal  remonstrance,  she 
determined  to  make  the  best  of  a  bad  business, 

i  It  was  generally  understood  that  the  Duke  had  a 
daughter  by  Madame  de  Genlis.  This  daughter,  when 
grown  up,  was  married  to  the  late  Irish  Lord  Robert 
Fitzgerald. 


142  CHAPTER   VI 

and  tolerated  Madame  de  Genlis,  although  she 
made  no  secret  among  her  friends  and  relations  of 
the  reason  why  she  did  so.  Nay,  so  far  did  her 
wish  not  to  disoblige  her  husband  prevail  over  her 
own  feelings  as  to  induce  her  to  yield  at  last  to  his 
importunities  by  frequently  proposing  to  present 
Madame  de  Genlis  to  the  Queen.  But  Madame 
de  Genlis  never  could  obtain  either  a  public  or  a 
private  audience.  Though  the  Queen  was  a  great 
admirer  of  merit  and  was  fond  of  encouraging 
talents,  of  which  Madame  de  Genlis  was  by  no 
means  deficient,  yet  even  the  account  the  Duchess 
herself  had  given,  had  Her  Majesty  possessed  no 
other  means  of  knowledge,  would  have  sealed 
that  lady's  exclusion  from  the  opportunities  of 
display  at  Court,  which  she  sought  so  earnestly. 
There  was  another  source  of  exasperation 
against  the  Duke  of  Orleans ;  and  the  great  cause 
of  a  new  and,  though  less  obtrusive,  yet  perhaps 
an  equally  dangerous  foe  under  all  the  circum- 
tances,  in  Madame  de  Genlis.  The  anonymous 
slander  of  the  one  was  circulated  through  all 
France  by  the  other;  and  spleen  and  disappoint- 
ment feathered  the  venomed  arrows  shot  at  the 


CHAPTER   VI  143 

heart  of  power  by  malice  and  ambition!  Be  the 
charge  true  or  false,  these  anonymous  libels  were 
generally  considered  as  the  offspring  of  this  lady: 
they  were  industriously  scattered  by  the  Duke  of 
Orleans;  and  their  frequent  refutation  by  the 
Queen's  friends  only  increased  the  malignant 
industry  of  their  inventor. 

An  event  which  proved  the  most  serious  of 
all  that  ever  happened  to  the  Queen,  and  the 
consequences  of  which  were  distinctly  foreseen 
by  the  Princess  Lamballe  and  others  of  her  true 
friends,  was  now  growing  to  maturity. 

The  deposed  Court  oracle,  the  Countess  de 
Noailles,  had  been  succeeded  as  literary  leader 
by  the  Countess  Diana  Polignac.  She  was  a 
favourite  of  the  Count  d'Artois,  and  was  the 
first  lady  in  attendance  upon  the  Countess,  his 
wife.1  The  Queen's  conduct  had  always  been 

I  The  Countess  Diana  Polignac  had  a  much  better 
education,  and  considerably  more  natural  capacity,  than 
her  sister-in-law,  the  Duchess,  and  the  Queen  merely  disliked 
her  from  her  prudish  affectation.  The  Countess  d'Artois 
grew  jealous  of  the  Count's  intimacy  with  the  Countess 
Diana.  While  she  considered  herself  as  the  only  one  of  the 
royal  family  likely  to  be  mother  of  a  future  sovereign,  she 
was  silent,  or  perhaps  too  much  engrossed  by  her  castles  in 


144  CHAPTER   VI 

very  cool  to  her.  She  deemed  her  a  self-sufficient 
coquette.  However,  the  Countess  Diana  was  a 
constant  attendant  at  the  gay  parties,  which  were 
then  the  fashion  of  the  Court,  though  not  greatly 
admired. 

The  reader  will  scarcely  need  to  be  informed 
that  the  event  to  which  I  have  just  alluded  is 
the  introduction  by  the  Countess  Diana  of  her 
sister-in-law,  the  Countess  Julie  Polignac,  to  the 
Queen ;  and  having  brought  the  record  up  to  this 
point  I  here  once  more  dismiss  my  own  pen  for 
that  of  the  Princess  Lamballe. 

the  air  to  think  of  anything  but  diadems ;  but  when  she  saw 
the  Queen  producing  heirs,  she  grew  out  of  humour  at  her  lost 
popularity,  and  began  to  turn  her  attention  to  her  husband's 
Endymionship  to  this  new  Diana !  When  she  had  made  up 
her  mind  to  get  her  rival  out  of  her  house,  she  consulted  one 
of  the  family ;  but  being  told  that  the  best  means  for  a  wife 
to  keep  her  husband  out  of  harm's  way  was  to  provide  him 
with  a  domestic  occupation  for  his  leisure  hours  at  home, 
than  which  nothing  could  be  better  than  a  hand-maid  under 
the  same  roof,  she  made  a  merit  of  necessity  and  submitted 
ever  after  to  retain  the  Countess  Diana,  as  she  had  been 
prudently  advised.  The  Countess  Diana,  in  consequence, 
remained  in  the  family  even  up  to  the  i7th  October,  1789, 
when  she  left  Versailles  in  company  with  the  Polignacs  and 
the  d'Artois,  who  all  emigrated  together  from  France  to 
Italy  and  lived  at  Stria  on  the  Brenta,  near  Venice,  for 
some  time,  till  the  Countess  d'Artois  went  to  Turin. 


CHAPTER   V|  145 

It  will  be  obvious  to  everyone  that  I  must 
have  been  indebted  to  the  conversations  of  my 
beloved  patroness  for  most  of  the  sentiments  and 
nearly  all  the  facts  I  have  just  been  stating;  and 
had  the  period  on  which  she  has  written  so  little 
as  to  drive  me  to  the  necessity  of  writing  for  her 
been  less  pregnant  with  circumstances  almost 
entirely  personal  to  herself,  no  doubt  I  should  have 
found  more  upon  that  period  in  her  manuscript. 
But  the  year  of  which  Her  Highness  says  so  little 
was  the  year  of  happiness  and  exclusive  favour ; 
and  the  Princess  was  above  the  vanity  of  boasting, 
even  privately  in  the  self-confessional  of  her  diary. 
She  resumes  her  records  with  her  apprehensions ; 
and  thus  proceeds,  describing  the  introduction  of 
the  Countess  Julie  de  Polignac,  regretting  her 
ascendancy  over  the  Queen  and  foreseeing  its 
fatal  effects. 


"I    had    only    been    a    twelvemonth    in    Her 
Majesty's  service,  which  I  believe  was  the  happiest 

period    of   both    our  lives,   when,    at    one    of  the 
VOL.  i  10 


146  CHAPTER    VI 

Court  assemblies,  the  Countess  Julie  Polignac  was 
first  introduced  by  her  sister-in-law,  the  Countess 
Diana  Polignac,  to  the  Queen. 

"She  had  lived  in  the  country,  quite  a  retired 
life,  and  appeared  to  be  more  the  motherly 
woman,  and  the  domestic  wife,  than  the  ambitious 
Court  lady,  or  royal  sycophant.  She  was  easy  oi 
access,  and  elegantly  plain  in  her  dress  and 
deportment. 

"  Her  appearance  at  Court  was  as  fatal  to 
the  Queen  as  it  was  propitious  to  herself! 

"  She  seemed  formed  by  nature  to  become 
a  royal  favourite  ;  unassuming,  remarkably  com- 
plaisant, possessing  a  refined  taste,  with  a  good- 
natured  disposition,  not  handsome,  but  well 
formed,  and  untainted  by  haughtiness  or  pom- 
posity. 

"  It  would  appear,  from  the  effect  her  intro- 
duction had  on  the  Queen,  that  her  domestic 
virtues  were  written  in  her  countenance  ;  for  she 
became  a  royal  favourite  before  she  had  time  to 
become  a  candidate  for  royal  favour. 

"The  Queen's  sudden  attachment  to  the 
Countess  Julie  produced  no  alteration  in  my 


CHAPTER   VI  147 

conduct,  while  I  saw  nothing  extraordinary  to 
alarm  me  for  the  consequences  of  any  particular 
marked  partiality,  by  which  the  character  and 
popularity  of  Her  Majesty  might  be  endangered.1 

"  But,  seeing  the  progress  this  lady  made  in 
the  feelings  of  the  Queen's  enemies,  it  became 
my  duty,  from  the  situation  I  held,  to  caution 
Her  Majesty  against  the  risks  she  ran  in  making 
her  favourites  friends  ;  for  it  was  very  soon 
apparent  how  highly  the  Court  disapproved  of 
this  intimacy  and  partiality:  and  the  same  feeling 
soon  found  its  way  to  the  many-headed  monster, 
the  people,  who  only  saw  the  favourite  without 
considering  the  charge  she  held.  Scarcely  had 
she  felt  the  warm  rays  of  royal  favour,  than 
the  chilling  blasts  of  envy  and  malice  began  to 
nip  it  in  the  bud  of  all  its  promised  bliss. 
Even  long,  before  she  touched  the  pinnacle  of 
her  grandeur  as  governess  of  the  royal  children 


i  The  Princess  Lamballe  was  too  virtuous,  too  hand- 
some, and  much  too  noble  in  character  and  sentiment, 
meanly  to  nourish  jealousy  or  envy.  She  was  as  much 
above  it  as  her  personal  and  mental  qualifications  were 
superior  to  those  of  her  rival. 

10 — 2 


148  CHAPTER   VI 

the  blackest  calumny  began  to  show  itself  in 
prints,  caricatures,  songs,  and  pamphlets  of  every 
description. 

"A  reciprocity  of  friendship  between  a  queen 
and  a  subject,  by  those  who  never  felt  the  exis- 
tence of  such  a  feeling  as  friendship,  could  only 
be  considered  in  a  criminal  point  of  view.  But 
by  what  perversion  could  suspicion  frown  upon 
the  ties  between  two  married  women,  both  living 
in  the  greatest  harmony  with  their  respective 
husbands,  especially  when  both  became  mothers 
and  so  devoted  to  their  offspring  ?  This  bound- 
less friendship  did  glow  between  this  calumniated 
pair  —  calumniated  because  the  sacredness  and 
peculiarity  of  the  sentiment  which  united  them 
was  too  pure  to  be  understood  by  the  grovelling 
minds  who  made  themselves  their  sentencers. 
The  friend  is  the  friend's  shadow.  The  real 
sentiment  of  friendship,  of  which  disinterested 
sympathy  is  the  sign,  cannot  exist  unless  between 
two  of  the  same  sex,  because  a  physical  difference 
involuntarily  modifies  the  complexion  of  the 
intimacy  where  the  sexes  are  opposite,  even 
though  there  be  no  physical  relations.  The  Queen 


CHAPTER   VI  149 

of  France  had  love  in  her  eyes  and  Heaven  in 
her  soul.  The  Duchess  of  Polignac,  whose  person 
beamed  with  every  charm,  could  never  have  been 
condemned,  like  the  Friars  of  La  Trappe,  to  the 
mere  memento  mori. 

"  When  I  had  made  the  representations  to 
Her  Majesty  which  duty  exacted  from  me  on 
perceiving  her  ungovernable  partiality  for  her  new 
favourite,  that  I  might  not  importune  her  by  the 
awkwardness  naturally  arising  from  my  constant 
exposure  to  the  necessity  of  witnessing  an  intimacy 
she  knew  I  did  not  sanction,  I  obtained  permission 
from  my  royal  mistress  to  visit  my  father-in-law, 
the  Duke  de  Penthievre,  at  Rambouillet,  his 
country  seat 

"  Soon  after  I  arrived  there,  I  was  taken  sud- 
denly ill  after  dinner  with  the  most  excruciating 
pains  in  my  stomach.  I  thought  myself  dying. 
Indeed,  I  should  have  been  so  but  for  the  for- 
tunate and  timely  discovery  that  I  was  poisoned: 
— certainly,  not  intentionally,  by  anyone  belonging 
to  my  dear  father's  household ;  but  by  some 
execrable  hand  which  had  an  interest  in  my 
death. 


150  CHAPTER   VI 

"  The  affair  was  hushed  up  with  a  vague 
report  that  some  of  the  made  dishes  had  been 
prepared  in  a  stew-pan  long  out  of  use,  which 
the  clerk  of  the  Duke's  kitchen  had  forgotten  to 
get  properly  tinned. 

"This  was  a  doubtful  story  for  many  reasons. 
Indeed,  I  firmly  believe  that  the  poison  given 
me  had  been  prepared  in  the  salt,  for  everyone 
at  table  had  eaten  of  the  same  dish  without 
suffering  the  smallest  inconvenience.1 

"The  news  of  this  accident  had  scarcely  ar- 
rived at  Versailles,  when  the  Queen,  astounded, 
and  in  excessive  anxiety,  instantly  sent  off  her 
physician,  and  her  private  secretary,  the  Abb6 
Vermond,  to  bring  me  back  to  my  apartments  at 
Versailles,  with  strict  orders  not  to  leave  me  a 
moment  at  the  Duke's,  for  fear  of  a  second  attempt 

i  Had  not  this  unfortunate  circumstance  occurred,  it 
is  probable  the  Duke  de  Penthievre  would  have  prevailed 
on  the  Princess  to  have  renounced  her  situation  at  Court. 
What  heart-rending  grief  would  it  not  have  spared  the 
grey  hairs  of  her  doting  father-in-law,  and  what  a  sea  of 
crimes  might  have  been  obviated,  had  it  pleased  Heaven 
to  have  ordained  her  death  under  the  paternal  roof  of  her 
second  father  1 


CHAPTER   VI  151 

of  the  same  nature.  Her  Majesty  had  imputed 
the  first  to  the  earnestness  I  had  always  shown 
in  support  of  her  interests,  and  she  seemed  now 
more  ardent  in  her  kindness  towards  me  from  the 
idea  of  my  being  exposed  through  her  means  to 
the  treachery  of  assassins  in  the  dark.  The  Queen 
awaited  our  coming  impatiently,  and,  not  seeing 
the  carriages  return  so  quickly  as  she  fancied  they 
ought  to  arrive,  she  herself  set  off  for  Rambouillet, 
and  did  not  leave  me  till  she  had  prevailed  on 
me  to  quit  my  father-in-law's,  and  we  both  re- 
turned together  the  same  night  to  Versailles,  where 
the  Queen  in  person  dedicated  all  her  attention 
to  the  restoration  of  my  health. 

"As  yet,  however,  nothing  in  particular  had 
discovered  that  splendour  for  which  the  Polignacs 
were  afterwards  so  conspicuous. 

"Indeed,  so  little  were  their  circumstances 
calculated  for  a  Court  life,  that  when  the  friends 
of  Madame  Polignac  perceived  the  growing  attach- 
ment of  the  young  Queen  to  the  palladium  of  their 
hopes,  in  order  to  impel  Her  Majesty's  friendship 
to  repair  the  deficiencies  of  fortune,  they  advised 
the  magnet  to  quit  the  Court  abruptly,  assigning 


152  CHAPTER    VI 

the  want  of  means  as  the  motive  of  her  retreat. 
The  story  got  wind,  and  proved  propitious. 

"  The  Queen,  to  secure  the  society  of  her  friend, 
soon  supplied  the  resources  she  required  and  took 
away  the  necessity  for  her  retirement.  But  the 
die  was  cast.  In  gaining  one  friend  she  sacrificed 
a  host.  By  this  act  of  imprudent  preference  she 
lost  for  ever  the  affections  of  the  old  nobility. 
This  was  the  gale  which  drove  her  back  among 
the  breakers. 

"  I  saw  the  coming  storm,  and  endeavoured 
to  make  my  sovereign  feel  its  danger.  Presuming 
that  my  example  would  be  followed,  I  withdrew 
from  the  Polignac  society,  and  vainly  flattered 
myself  that  prudence  would  impel  others  not  to 
encourage  Her  Majesty's  amiable  infatuation  till 
the  consequences  should  be  irretrievable.  But 
sovereigns  are  always  surrounded  by  those  who 
make  it  a  point  to  reconcile  them  to  their  follies, 
however  flagrant ;  and  keep  them  on  good  terms 
with  themselves,  however  severely  they  may  be 
censured  by  the  world. 

"  If  I  had  read  the  book  of  fate  I  could  not 
have  seen  more  distinctly  the  fatal  results  which 


CHAPTER   VI  153 

actually  took  place  from  this  unfortunate  con- 
nexion. The  Duchess  and  myself  always  lived  in 
the  greatest  harmony,  and  equally  shared  the 
confidence  of  the  Queen ;  but  it  was  my  duty  not 
to  sanction  Her  Majesty's  marked  favouritism  by 
my  presence.  The  Queen  often  expressed  her 
discontent  to  me  upon  the  subject.  She  used  to 
tell  me  how  much  it  grieved  her  to  be  denied 
success  in  her  darling  desire  of  uniting  her  friends 
with  each  other,  as  they  were  already  united  in 
her  own  heart.  Finding  my  resolution  unalterable, 
she  was  mortified,  but  gave  up  her  pursuit.  When 
she  became  assured  that  all  importunity  was 
useless,  she  ever  after  avoided  wounding  my 
feelings  by  remonstrance,  and  allowed  me  to 
pursue  the  system  I  had  adopted,  rather  than 
deprive  herself  of  my  society,  which  would  have 
been  the  consequence  had  I  not  been  left  at 
liberty  to  follow  the  dictates  of  my  own  sense  of 
propriety  in  a  course  from  which  I  was  resolved 
that  even  Her  Majesty's  displeasure  should  not 
make  me  swerve. 

"  Once    in    particular,     at     an    entertainment 
given   to   the   Emperor  Joseph    at   Trianon,    I   re- 


154  CHAPTER   VI 

member  the  Queen  took  the  opportunity  to  repeat 
how  much  she  felt  herself  mortified  at  the  course 
in  which  I  persisted  of  never  making  my  appear- 
ance at  the  Duchess  of  Polignac's  parties. 

"  I  replied,  '  I  believe,  madam,  we  are  both 
of  us  disappointed  ;  but  your  Majesty  has  your 
remedy,  by  replacing  me  by  a  lady  less  scru- 
pulous.' 

" '  I  was  too  sanguine,'  said  the  Queen,  '  in 
having  flattered  myself  that  I  had  chosen  two 
friends  who  would  form,  from  their  sympathising 
and  uniting  their  sentiments  with  each  other,  a 
society  which  would  embellish  my  private  life  as 
much  as  they  adorn  their  public  stations.' 

"  I  said  it  was  by  my  unalterable  friendship 
and  my  loyal  and  dutiful  attachment  to  the  sacred 
person  of  Her  Majesty  that  I  had  been  prompted 
to  a  line  of  conduct  in  which  the  motives  whence 
it  arose  would  impel  me  to  persist  while  I  had  the 
honour  to  hold  a  situation  under  Her  Majesty's 
roof. 

"The  Queen,  embracing  me,  exclaimed,  'That 
will  be  for  life,  for  death  alone  can  separate  us !  ' 

i  Good  Heaven  1  What  must  have  been  the  feelings  of 
these  true,  these  sacred  friends,  the  shadow  of  each  other, 


CHAPTER   VI  155 

"This  is  the  last  conversation  I  recollect  to 
have  had  with  the  Queen  upon  this  distressing 
subject. 

"  The  Abb6  Vermond,  who  had  been  Her 
Majesty's  tutor,  but  who  was  now  her  private 
secretary,  began  to  dread  that  his  influence  over 
her  from  having  been  her  confidential  adviser  from 
her  youth  upwards  would  suffer  from  the  rising 
authority  of  the  all-predominant  new  favourite. 
Consequently,  he  thought  proper  to  remonstrate, 
not  with  Her  Majesty,  but  with  those  about  her 
royal  person.  The  Queen  took  no  notice  of  these 
side-wind  complaints,  not  wishing  to  enter  into  any 
explanation  of  her  conduct.  On  this  the  Abb6 
withdrew  from  Court.  But  he  only  retired  for  a 
short  time,  and  that  to  make  better  terms  for 
the  future.  Here  was  a  new  spring  for  those 
who  were  supplying  the  army  of  calumniators 
with  poison.  Happy  had  it  been,  perhaps,  for 
France  and  the  Queen  if  Vermond  had  never 
returned.  But  the  Abbe"  was  something  like  a 
distant  country  cousin  of  an  English  minister,  a 

on  that  fatal  Tenth  of  August,  which  separated  them  only  to 
meet  in  a  better  world  1 


156  CHAPTER   VI 

V 

man  of  no  talents,  but  who  hoped  for  employ- 
ment through  the  power  of  his  kinsman.  '  There 
is  nothing  on  hand  now,'  answered  the  minister, 
'  but  a  bishop's  mitre  or  a  field-marshal's  staff.' 
'  Oh,  very  well,'  replied  the  countryman ;  '  either 
will  do  for  me  till  something  better  turns  up.' 
The  Abbe",  in  his  retirement  finding  leisure  to 
reflect  that  there  was  no  probability  of  anything 
'  better  turning  up '  than  his  post  of  private 
secretary,  tutor,  confidant,  and  counsellor  (and 
that  not  always  the  most  correct)  of  a  young 
and  amiable  Queen  of  France,  soon  made  his 
re-appearance  and  kept  his  jealousy  of  the 
Polignacs  ever  after  to  himself.1 

"  The  Abbe"  Vermond  enjoyed  much  influence 
with  regard  to  ecclesiastical  preferments.  He  was 
too  fond  of  his  situation  ever  to  contradict  or 
thwart  Her  Majesty  in  any  of  her  plans ;  too 
much  of  a  courtier  to  assail  her  ears  with  the 
language  of  truth ;  and  by  far  too  much  a  clergy- 
man to  interest  himself  but  for  Mother  Church. 

i  He  remained  in  the  same  situation  till  the  horrors  of 
the  Revolution  drove  him  from  it. 


CHAPTER   VI  157 

"  In  short,  he  was  more  culpable  in  not 
doing  his  duty  than  in  the  mischief  he  occa- 
sioned, for  he  certainly  oftener  misled  the  Queen 
by  his  silence  than  by  his  advice." 


CHAPTER    VII 

JOURNAL  CONTINUED — SLANDERS  AGAINST  THE  EMPRESS 
MARIA  THERESA,  ON  ACCOUNT  OF  METASTASIO,  GIVE 
THE  QUEEN  A  DISTASTE  FOR  PATRONISING  LITERA- 
TURE  PRIVATE  PLAYS  AND  ACTING CENSORIOUSNESS 

OF   THOSE  WHO  WERE    EXCLUDED  FROM    THEM THE 

QUEEN'S    LOVE    OF    MUSIC  —  GLUCK    INVITED    FROM 

GERMANY ANECDOTES   OF   GLUCK    AND   HIS  ARMIDA — 

GARAT — VIOTTI — MADAME   ST.    HUBERTI VESTRIS 

I  HAVE  already  mentioned  that  Maria  Antoi- 
nette had  no  decided  taste  for  literature.  Her 
mind  rather  sought  its  amusements  in  the  ball- 
room, the  promenade,  the  theatre,  especially  when 
she  herself  was  a  performer,  and  the  concert-room, 
than  in  her  library  and  among  her  books.  Her 
coldness  towards  literary  men  may  in  some  degree 
be  accounted  for  by  the  disgust  which  she  took 
at  the  calumnies  and  caricatures  resulting  from 
her  mother's  partiality  for  her  own  revered 
teacher,  the  great  Metastasio.  The  resemblance 
of  most  of  Maria  Theresa's  children  to  that  poet 
was  coupled  with  the  great  patronage  he  received 


CHAPTER   VII  159 

from  the  Empress ;  and  much  less  than  these 
circumstances  would  have  been  quite  enough  to 
furnish  a  tale  for  the  slanderer,  injurious  to  the 
reputation  ot  any  exalted  personage. 

"The  taste  of  Maria  Antoinette  for  private 
theatricals  was  kept  up  till  the  clouds  ot  the 
Revolution  darkened  over  all  her  enjoyments. 

"  These  innocent  amusements  were  made 
subjects  of  censure  against  her  by  the  many 
courtiers  who  were  denied  access  to  them  ;  while 
some,  who  were  permitted  to  be  present,  were 
too  well  pleased  with  the  opportunity  of  sneering 
at  her  mediocrity  in  the  art,  which  those,  who 
could  not  see  her,  were  ready  to  criticise  with 
the  utmost  severity.  It  is  believed  that  Madame 
de  Genlis  found  this  too  favourable  an  opportunity 
to  be  slighted.  Anonymous  satires  upon  the 
Queen's  performances,  which  were  attributed  to 
the  malice  of  that  authoress,  were  frequently 
shown  to  Her  Majesty  by  good-natured  friends. 
The  Duke  de  Fronsac  also,  from  some  situation 
he  held  at  Court,  though  not  included  in  the 
private  household  of  Her  Majesty  at  Trianon, 
conceiving  himself  highly  injured  by  not  being 


I  GO  CHAPTER   VII 

suffered  to  interfere,  was  much  exasperated,  and 
took  no  pains  to  prevent  others  from  receiving 
the  infection  of  his  resentment. 

"  Of  all  the  arts,  music  was  the  only  one 
which  Her  Majesty  ever  warmly  patronised.  For 
music  she  was  an  enthusiast.  Had  her  talents  in 
this  art  been  cultivated,  it  is  certain  from  her 
judgment  in  it  that  she  would  have  made  very 
considerable  progress.  She  sang  little  French  airs 
with  great  taste  and  feeling.  She  improved  much 
under  the  tuition  of  the  great  composer,  her  master, 
the  celebrated  Sacchini.  After  his  death,  Sapio1 
was  named  his  successor;  but,  between  the  death 
of  one  master  and  the  appointment  of  another, 
the  revolutionary  horrors  so  increased  that  her 
mind  was  no  longer  in  a  state  to  listen  to  any- 
thing but  the  howlings  of  the  tempest. 

"  In  her  happier  days  of  power,  the  great 
Gluck  was  brought  at  her  request  from  Germany 
to  Paris.  He  cost  nothing  to  the  public  treasury, 
for  Her  Majesty  paid  all  his  expenses  out  of  her 

i  The  father  of  Sapio,  the  tenor  singer,  who  on  coming 
to  England  was  much  patronised  by  the  Duchess  of  York  and 
the  late  old  Duke  of  Queensbury. 


LOUIS-AUGUST!- 
.OUIS  XVI,  KI.\G   OF  1-RAXCE 


From  a  painting  in  the  g 


at  Vcrs 


I GO  CHAPTER 

suffered   to   interfere,   v 

took   no   pains  others    from    i 

the  infer '  utment. 

"Of  ail    t:         its,    music    was    the    only  one 
which  Her  ever  warmly  patronised.     For 

music  she  was  an  enthusiast.  Had  her  talents  in 
this  art  been  cultivated,  it  is  certain  from  her 
judgment  in  it  that  she  would  have  made  very 

iderable  progress.     She  sang  little  French  airs 

with  great  taste  and  feeling.     She  improved  much 

Vr  the  tuitiorrorTn^^rVa^^fA^oscr,  her  master, 

^Mfe^ami^^ft^^is^W^^ 
was  named  his  successor;  but,  between  the  death 


•tionary  horrors,.,  so 
i  was  no  longer  in  a  state   to  listen   to  any- 
•.;  but  the  howlings  of  the  tempest. 
"  In    h'.;r   happier    days    of    power,    the    great 

from  Germany 

-     He  i  public  treasury, 

for   Her   Majesty   p  p.ses  out  of  her 


i  The  father  of  Sapio,  the  tenor  singer,  who  on  coming 
to  England  was  much  patro  ichess  of  York  and 

the  late  old  Duke  of  Queensbmy. 


CHAPTER   VII  l6l 

own  purse,  leaving  him  the  profits  of  his  operas, 
which  attracted  immense  sums  to  the  theatre.1 

"  Maria  Antoinette  paid  for  the  musical  educa- 
tion of  the  French  singer,  Garat,  and  pensioned 
him  for  her  private  concerts. 

"  Her  Majesty  was  the  great  patroness  of  the 
celebrated  Viotti,  who  was  also  attached  to  her 
private  musical  parties.  Before  Viotti  began  to 
perform  his  concertos,  Her  Majesty,  with  the 
most  amiable  condescension,  would  go  round 
the  music  saloon,  and  say,  '  Ladies  and  gentle- 
men, I  request  you  will  be  silent,  and  very 
attentive,  and  not  enter  into  conversation,  while 
Mr.  Viotti  is  playing,  for  it  interrupts  him  in  the 
execution  of  his  fine  performance.' 

"  Gluck  composed  his  Armida  in  compliment 
to  the  personal  charms  of  Maria  Antoinette.  I 
never  saw  Her  Majesty  more  interested  about 

i  To  this  very  day  the  music  of  Gluck  in  France,  like  the 
works  of  our  immortal  Shakespeare  in  England,  stands  the 
test  of  time  even  amid  that  versatile  nation.  To  outlive 
French  caprice,  his  compositions  must  possess,  like  those  of 
the  immortal  Sacchini,  something  strikingly  extraordinary. 
If  they  are  less  frequently  performed  than  inferior  pro- 
ductions, it  is  for  want  of  artists  equal  to  their  merit. 

VOL.    I  II 


162  CHAPTER   VII 

anything  than  she  was  for  its  success.  She 
became  a  perfect  slave  to  it.  She  had  the 
gracious  condescension  to  hear  all  the  pieces 
through,  at  Gluck's  request,  before  they  were 
submitted  to  the  stage  for  rehearsal.  Gluck  said 
he  always  improved  his  music  after  he  saw  the 
effect  it  had  upon  Her  Majesty. 

"  He  was  coming  out  of  the  Queen's  apart- 
ment one  day,  after  he  had  been  performing  one 
of  these  pieces  for  Her  Majesty's  approbation, 
when  I  followed  and  congratulated  him  on  the 
increased  success  he  had  met  with  from  the  whole 
band  of  the  opera  at  every  rehearsal.  '  O  my 
dear  Princess ! '  cried  he,  '  it  wants  nothing  to 
make  it  be  applauded  up  to  the  seven  skies  but 
two  such  delightful  heads  as  Her  Majesty's  and 
your  own.' — '  Oh,  if  that  be  all,'  answered  I,  '  we'll 
have  them  painted  for  you,  Mr.  Gluck ! ' — '  No, 
no,  no  1  you  do  not  understand  me/  replied 
Gluck,  '  I  mean  real,  real  heads.1  My  actresses 


i 


How  little  did  Gluck  think,  when  he  was  paying  this 
compliment,  or  the  Princess,  when  she  recorded  it,  that 
these  two  heads  were  really  to  be  so  cruelly  severed  from 
their  bodies. 


CHAPTER    VII  163 

are  very  ugly,  and  Armida  and  her  confidential 
lady  ought  to  be  very  handsome.' 

"  However  great  the  success  of  the  opera  of 
Armida,  and  certainly  it  was  one  of  the  best 
productions  ever  exhibited  on  the  French  stage, 
no  one  had  a  better  opinion  of  its  composition 
than  Gluck  himself.  He  was  quite  mad  about  it. 
He  told  the  Queen  that  the  air  of  France  had 
invigorated  his  musical  genius,  and  that,  afur 
having  had  the  honour  of  seeing  Her  Majesty,  his 
ideas  were  so  much  inspired  that  his  compositions 
resembled  her,  and  became  alike  angelic  and 
sublime ! 

"  The  first  artist  who  undertook  the  part  of 
Armida  was  Madame  Saint  Huberti.  The  Queen 
was  very  partial  to  her.  She  was  principal  female 
singer  at  the  French  opera,  was  a  German  by 
birth,  and  strongly  recommended  by  Gluck  for  her 
good  natural  voice.  At  Her  Majesty's  request, 
Gluck  himself  taught  Madame  Saint  Huberti  the 
part  of  Armida.  Sacchini,  also,  at  the  command  of 
Maria  Antoinette,  instructed  her  in  the  style  and 
sublimity  of  the  Italian  school,  and  Mdlle.  Bertin, 
the  Queen's  dressmaker  and  milliner,  was  ordered 

II — 2 


164  CHAPTER    VII 

to   furnish   the   complete   dress   for   the   character. 

"  The  Queen,  perhaps,  was  more  liberal  to  this 
lady  than  to  any  actress  upon  the  stage.  She  had 
frequently  paid  her  debts,  which  were  very  con- 
siderable, for.  she  dressed  like  a  queen  whenever 
she  represented  one. 

"  Gluck's  consciousness  of  the  merit  of  his 
own  works,  and  of  their  dignity,  excited  no 
small  jealousy,  during  the  getting  up  of  Armida, 
in  his  rival  with  the  public,  the  great  Vestris,  to 
whom  he  scarcely  left  space  to  exhibit  the  graces 
of  his  art ;  and  many  severe  disputes  took  place 
between  the  two  rival  sharers  of  the  Parisian 
enthusiasm.  Indeed,  it  was  at  one  time  feared 
that  the  success  of  Armida  would  be  endangered, 
unless  an  equal  share  of  the  performance  were 
conceded  to  the  dancers.  But  Gluck,  whose 
German  obstinacy  would  not  give  up  a  note,  told 
Vestris  he  might  compose  a  ballet  in  which  he 
would  leave  him  his  own  way  entirely ;  but  that 
an  artist  whose  profession  only  taught  him  to 
reason  with  his  heels  should  not  kick  about  works 
like  Armida  at  his  pleasure.  °  My  subject,'  added 
Gluck,  '  is  taken  from  the  immortal  Tasso.  My 


CHAPTER     VII  165 

music  has  been  logically  composed,  and  with  the 
ideas  of  my  head ;  and,  of  course,  there  is  very 
little  room  left  for  capering.  If  Tasso  had  thought 
proper  to  make  Rinaldo  a  dancer  he  never  would 
have  designated  him  a  warrior.' 

"Rinaldo  was  the  part  Vestris  wished  to  be 
allotted  to  his  son.  However,  through  the  inter- 
ference of  the  Queen,  Vestris  prudently  took  the 
part  as  it  had  been  originally  finished  by  Gluck. 

"  The  Queen  was  a  great  admirer  and  patroness 
of  Augustus  Vestris,  the  god  of  dance,  as  he  was 
styled.  Augustus  Vestris  never  lost  Her  Majesty's 
favour,  though  he  very  often  lost  his  sense  ot  the 
respect  he  owed  to  the  public,  and  showed  airs 
and  refused  to  dance.  Once  he  did  so  when  Her 
Majesty  was  at  the  opera.  Upon  some  frivolous 
pretext  he  refused  to  appear.  He  was,  in  conse- 
quence, immediately  arrested.  His  father,  alarmed 
at  his  son's  temerity,  flew  to  me  and  with  the 
most  earnest  supplications  implored  I  would 
condescend  to  endeavour  to  obtain  the  pardon  of 
Her  Majesty.  '  My  son,'  cried  he,  '  did  not  know 
that  Her  Majesty  had  honoured  the  theatre  with 
her  presence.  Had  he  been  aware  of  it,  could  he 


1 66  CHAPTER    VII 

have  refused  to  dance  for  his  most  bounteous  bene- 
factress ?  I,  too,  am  grieved  beyond  the  power  of 
language  to  describe,  by  this  mal  apropos  contretemps 
between  the  two  houses  of  Vestris  and  Bourbon, 
as  we  have  always  lived  in  the  greatest  harmony 
ever  since  we  came  from  Florence  to  Paris.  My 
son  is  very  sorry  and  will  dance  most  bewitchingly 
if  Her  Majesty  will  graciously  condescend  to  order 
his  release  1 ' 

"  I  repeated  the  conversation  verbatim  to 
Her  Majesty,  who  enjoyed  the  arrogance  of  the 
Florentine,  and  sent  her  page  to  order  young 
Vestris  to  be  set  immediately  at  liberty. 

"  Having  exerted  all  the  wonderful  powers  of 
his  art,  the  Queen  applauded  him  very  much. 
When  Her  Majesty  was  about  leaving  her  box, 
old  Vestris  appeared  at  the  entrance,  leading  his 
son  to  thank  the  Queen. 

" '  Ah,  Monsieur  Vestris,'  said  the  Queen  to 
the  father,  'you  never  danced  as  your  son  has 
done  this  evening !  * 

"  '  That's  very  natural,  Madame,'  answered 
old  Vestris,  '  I  never  had  a  Vestris,  please  your 
Majesty,  for  a  master.' 


CHAPTER    VII  167 

"  '  Then  you  have  the  greater  merit,'  replied 
the  Queen,  turning  round  to  old  Vestris — '  Ah, 
I  shall  never  forget  you  and  Mademoiselle  Guimard 
dancing  the  menuet  de  la  cour.' 

"On  this  old  Vestris  held  up  his  head  with 
that  peculiar  grace  for  which  he  was  so  much 
distinguished.  The  old  man,  though  ridiculously 
vain,  was  very  much  of  a  gentleman  in  his  man- 
ners. The  father  of  Vestris  was  a  painter  of 
some  celebrity  at  Florence,  and  originally  from 
Tuscany. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

JOURNAL  CONTINUED — EMPEROR  JOSEPH  COMES  TO  FRANCE 
— INJURIOUS  REPORTS  OF  IMMENSE  SUMS  OF  MONEY 
GIVEN  HIM  FROM  THE  TREASURY — PRINCESS  LAMBALLE 
PRESENTED  TO  HIM — ANECDOTES  TOLD  BY  HIM  OF  HIS 

FAMILY THE      KING     ANNOYED      BY     HIS     FREEDOMS 

CIRCUMSTANCES  THAT  OCCURRED  WHILE  HE  WAS 
SEEKING  INFORMATION  AMONG  THE  COMMON  PEOPLE — 
NOTE  OF  THE  EDITOR  ON  CERTAIN  MISTAKES  OF 
MADAME  CAMPAN 

"THE  visit  of  the  favourite  brother  of  Maria 
Antoinette,  the  Emperor  Joseph  the  Second,  to 
France,  had  been  long  and  anxiously  expected, 
and  was  welcomed  by  her  with  delight.  The 
pleasure  Her  Majesty  discovered  at  having  him 
with  her  is  scarcely  credible;  and  the  affectionate 
tenderness  with  which  the  Emperor  frequently 
expressed  himself  on  seeing  his  favourite  sister 
evinced  that  their  joys  were  mutual. 

"  Like  everything  else,  however,  which  gratified 
and  obliged  the  Queen,  her  evil  star  converted 
even  this  into  a  misfortune.  It  was  said  that 
the  French  treasury,  which  was  not  overflowing, 


CHAPTER    VIII  l6g 

was  still  more  reduced  by  the  Queen's  partiality 
for  her  brother.  She  was  accused  of  having  given 
him  immense  sums  of  money;  which  was  utterly 
false. 

"  The  finances  of  Joseph  were  at  that  time  in 
a  situation  too  superior  to  those  of  France  to 
admit  of  such  extravagance,  or  even  to  render  it 
desirable.  The  circumstance  which  gave  a  colour 
to  the  charge  was  this  : — 

"  The  Emperor,  in  order  to  facilitate  the  trade 
of  his  Brabant  subjects,  had  it  in  contemplation 
to  open  the  navigation  of  the  Scheldt.  This 
measure  would  have  been  ruinous  to  many  of  the 
skippers,  as  well  as  to  the  internal  commerce  of 
France.  It  was  considered  equally  dangerous  to 
the  trade  and  navigation  of  the  North  Hollanders. 
To  prevent  it,  negotiations  were  carried  on  by  the 
French  minister,  though  professedly  for  the  mutual 
interest  of  both  countries,  yet  entirely  at  the 
instigation  and  on  account  of  the  Dutch.  The 
weighty  argument  of  the  Dutch  to  prevent  the 
Emperor  from  accomplishing  a  purpose  they  so 
much  dreaded  was  a  sum  of  many  millions,  which 
passed  by  means  of  some  monied  speculation  in 


I7O  CHAPTER    VIII 

the  Exchange  through  France  to  its  destination 
at  Vienna.  It  was  to  see  this  affair  settled  that 
the  Emperor  declared  in  Vienna  his  intention  of 
taking  France  in  his  way  from  Italy,  before  he 
should  go  back  to  Austria. 

"  The  certainty  of  a  transmission  of  money 
from  France  to  Austria  was  quite  enough  to 
awaken  the  malevolent,  who  would  have  taken 
care  even  had  they  inquired  into  the  source 
whence  the  money  came,  never  to  have  made  it 
public.  The  opportunity  was  too  favourable  not 
to  be  made  the  pretext  to  raise  a  clamour  against 
the  Queen  for  robbing  France  to  favour  and  enrich 
Austria. 

"  The  Emperor,  who  had  never  seen  me, 
though  he  had  often  heard  me  spoken  of  at  the 
Court  of  Turin,  expressed  a  wish,  soon  after  his 
arrival,  that  I  should  be  presented  to  him.  The 
immediate  cause  of  this  let  me  explain. 

"  I  was  very  much  attached  to  the  Princess 
Clotilda,  whom  I  had  caused  to  be  united  to 
Prince  Charles  Emanuel  of  Piedmont.  Our 
family  had,  indeed,  been  principally  instrumental 
in  the  alliances  of  the  two  brothers  of  the  King  of 


CHAPTER   VIII  171 

France  with  the  two  Piedmontese  Princesses,  as 
I  had  been  in  the  marriage  of  the  Piedmontese 
Prince  with  the  Princess  of  France.  When  the 
Emperor  Joseph  visited  the  Court  of  Turin  he 
was  requested  when  he  saw  me  in  Paris  to  sig- 
nify the  King  of  Sardinia's  satisfaction  at  my 
good  offices.  Consequently,  the  Emperor  lost  no 
time  in  delivering  his  message. 

"  When  I  was  just  entering  the  Queen's  apart- 
ment to  be  presented,  '  Here,'  said  Her  Majesty, 
leading  me  to  the  Emperor,  '  is  the  Princess,'  and, 
then  turning  to  me,  exclaimed,  '  Mercy,  how  cold 
you  are  1 '  The  Emperor  answered  Her  Majesty 
in  German,  '  What  heat  can  you  expect  from  the 
hand  of  one  whose  heart  resides  with  -the  dead  ? 
and  subjoined,  in  the  same  language,  '  What  a  pity 
that  so  charming  a  head  should  be  fixed  on  a  dead 
body  1 ' 

"  I  affected  to  understand  the  Emperor  literally, 
and  set  him  and  the  Queen  laughing  by  thanking 
His  Imperial  Majesty  for  the  compliment. 

"  The  Emperor  was  exceedingly  affable  and  full 
of  anecdote.  Maria  Antoinette  resembled  him  in 
her  general  manners.  The  similitude  in  their  easy 


172  CHAPTER   VIII 

openness  of  address  towards  persons  of  merit  was 
very  striking.  Both  always  endeavoured  to  en- 
courage persons  of  every  class  to  speak  their  minds 
freely,  with  this  difference,  that  Her  Majesty  in  so 
doing  never  forgot  her  dignity  or  her  rank  at  Court. 
Sometimes,  however,  I  have  seen  her,  though  so 
perfect  in  her  deportment  with  inferiors,  much 
intimidated  and  sometimes  embarrassed  in  the 
presence  of  the  Princes  and  Princesses,  her  equals, 
who  for  the  first  time  visited  Versailles :  indeed, 
so  much  so  as  to  give  them  a  very  incorrect  idea 
of  her  capacity.  It  was  by  no  means  an  easy 
matter  to  cause  Her  Majesty  to  unfold  her  real 
sentiments  or  character  on  a  first  acquaintance. 

"  I  remember  the  Emperor  one  evening  at 
supper  when  he  was  exceedingly  good-humoured, 
talkative,  and  amusing.  He  had  visited  all  his 
Italian  relations,  and  had  a  word  for  each,  man, 
woman,  or  child — not  a  soul  was  spared.  The 
King  scarcely  once  opened  his  mouth,  except  to 
laugh  at  some  of  the  Emperor's  jokes  upon  his 
Italian  relations. 

"  He  began  by  asking  the  Queen  if  she 
punished  her  husband  by  making  him  keep  as 


CHAPTER    VIII  173 

many  Lents  in  the  same  year  as  her  sister  did 
the  King  ot  Naples.  The  Queen  not  knowing 
what  the  Emperor  meant,  he  explained  himself, 
and  said,  'When  the  King  of  Naples  offends  his 
Queen  she  keeps  him  on  short  commons  and 
soupe  maigre  till  he  has  expiated  the  offence  by 
the  penance  of  humbling  himself;  and  then,  and 
not  till  then,  permits  him  to  return  and  share  the 
nuptial  rights  of  her  bed.' 

" '  This  sister  of  mine,'  said  the  Emperor, 
'  is  a  proficient  Queen  in  the  art  of  man  training. 
My  other  sister,  the  Duchess  of  Parma,  is  equally 
scientific  in  breaking-in  horses  ;  for  she  is  con- 
stantly in  the  stables  with  her  grooms,  by  which 
she  grooms  a  pretty  sum  yearly  in  buying,  selling, 
and  breaking-in ;  while  the  simpleton,  her  husband, 
is  ringing  the  bells  with  the  Friars  of  Colorno  to 
call  his  good  subjects  to  Mass.' 

"  '  My  brother  Leopold,  Grand  Duke  of 
Tuscany,  feeds  his  subjects  with  plans  of 
economy,  a  dish  that  costs  nothing,  and  not 
only  saves  him  a  multitude  of  troubles  in  public 
buildings  and  public  institutions,  but  keeps  the 
public  money  in  his  private  coffers ;  which  is 


174  CHAPTER    VIII 

one  of  the  greatest  and  most  classical  discoveries 
a  sovereign  can  possibly  accomplish,  and  I  give 
Leopold  much  credit  for  his  ingenuity.' 

"  '  My  dear  brother  Ferdinand,  Arch-duke 
of  Milan,  considering  he  is  only  Governor  of 
Lombardy,  is  not  without  industry;  and  I  am 
told  when  out  of  the  glimpse  of  his  dragon  the 
holy  Beatrix,  his  Arch-duchess,  sells  his  corn  in 
the  time  of  war  to  my  enemies,  as  he  does  to  my 
friends  in  the  time  of  peace.  So  he  loses  nothing 
by  his  speculations  1 ' 

"  The  Queen  checked  the  Emperor  repeatedly, 
though  she  could  not  help  smiling  at  his  caricatures. 

"  '  As  to  you,  my  dear  Maria  Antoinette,' 
continued  the  Emperor,  not  heeding  her,  '  I  see 
you  have  made  great  progress  in  the  art  of  paint- 
ing. You  have  lavished  more  colour  on  one  cheek 
than  Rubens  would  have  required  for  all  the  figures 
in  his  cartoons.'  Observing  one  of  the  ladies  of 
honour  still  more  highly  rouged  than  the  Queen, 
he  said,  *  I  suppose  I  look  like  a  death's  head 
upon  a  tombstone,  among  all  these  high-coloured 
furies.' 

"The    Queen     again    tried    to    interrupt    the 


CHAPTER    VIII  175 

Emperor,  but  he  was  not  to  be  put  out  of 
countenance. 

"  He  said  he  had  no  doubt,  when  he  arrived 
at  Brussels,  that  he  should  hear  of  the  progress 
of  his  sister,  the  Arch-duchess  Maria  Christina,  in 
her  money  negotiations  with  the  banker  Valkeers, 
who  made  a  good  stock  for  her  husband's  jobs. 

" '  If  Maria  Christina's  gardens  and  palace  at 
Lakin  could  speak,'  observed  he,  'what  a  spectacle 
of  events  would  they  not  produce  1  What  a  number 
of  fine  sights  my  own  family  would  afford  1 ' 

"  '  When  I  get  to  Cologne,'  pursued  the 
Emperor,  '  there  I  shall  see  my  great  fat  brother 
Maximilian,  in  his  little  electorate,  spending  his 
yearly  revenue  upon  an  ecclesiastical  procession  ; 
for  priests,  like  opposition,  never  bark  but  to  get 
into  the  manger ;  never  walk  empty-handed ; 
rosaries  and  good  cheer  always  wind  up  their 
holy  work ;  and  my  good  Maximilian,  as  head  of 
his  Church,  has  scarcely  feet  to  waddle  into  it. 
Feasting  and  fasting  produce  the  same  effect.  In 
wind  and  food  he  is  quite  an  adept — puffing,  from 
one  cause  or  the  other,  like  a  smith's  bellows  I ' 

"  Indeed,  the   Elector  of  Cologne  was  really 


176  CHAPTER    VIII 

grown  so  very  fat,  that,  like  his  Imperial  mother, 
he  could  scarcely  walk.  He  would  so  over-eat 
himself  at  these  ecclesiastical  dinners,  to  make  his 
guests  welcome,  that,  from  indigestion,  he  would 
be  puffing  and  blowing,  an  hour  afterwards,  for 
breath ! 

"  '  As  I  have  begun  the  family  visits,'  continued 
the  Emperor,  '  I  must  not  pass  by  the  Arch- 
duchess Mariana  and  the  lady  abbess  at  Clagen- 
furt ;  or,  the  Lord  knows,  I  shall  never  hear  the 
end  of  their  klagens.1  The  first,  I  am  told,  is 
grown  so  ugly,  and,  of  course,  so  neglected  by 
mankind,  that  she  is  become  an  utter  stranger  to 
any  attachment,  excepting  the  fleshy  embraces  of 
the  disgusting  wen  that  encircles  her  neck  and 
bosom,  and  makes  her  head  appear  like  a  black 
spot  upon  a  large  sheet  of  white  paper !  Therefore 
klagen  is  all  I  can  expect  from  that  quarter  of 
female  flesh,  and  I  dare  say  it  will  be  levelled 
against  the  whole  race  of  mankind  for  their  want 
of  taste  in  not  admiring  her  exuberance  of  human 
craw ! 

" '  As   to   the   lady  abbess,   she   is   one   of  my 

i  A  German  word,  which  signifies  complaining. 


CHAPTER    VIII  177 

best  recruiting  Serjeants.  She  is  so  fond  of  training 
cadets  for  the  benefit  of  the  army  that  they  learn 
more  from  her  system  in  one  month  than  at  the 
military  academy  at  Neustadt  in  a  whole  year. 
She  is  her  mother's  own  daughter.  She  under- 
stands military  tactics  thoroughly.  She  and  I 
never  quarrel,  except  when  I  garrison  her  citadel 
with  invalids.  She  and  the  canoness,  Mariana, 
would  rather  see  a  few  young  ensigns  than  all 
the  staffs  of  the  oldest  field-marshals  1 ' 

'•'  The  Queen  often  made  signs  to  the  Emperor 
to  desist  from  thus  exposing  every  member  of 
his  family,  and  seemed  to  feel  mortified  ;  but  the 
more  Her  Majesty  endeavoured  to  check  his 
freedom,  and  make  him  silent,  the  more  he 
enlarged  upon  the  subject.  He  did  not  even  omit 
Maria  Theresa,  who,  he  said,  in  consequence  of 
some  papers  found  on  persons  arrested  as  spies 
from  the  Prussian  camp,  during  the  seven  years' 
war,  was  reported  to  have  been  greatly  surprised 
to  have  discovered  that  her  husband,  the  Emperor 
Francis  I.,  supplied  the  enemy's  army  with  all 
kinds  of  provision  from  her  stores. 

"The  King  scarcely  ever  answered   excepting 

VOL.     I  12 


178  CHAPTER    VIII 

when  the  Emperor  told  the  Queen  that  her 
staircase  and  ante-chamber  at  Versailles  resembled 
more  the  Turkish  bazars  of  Constantinople1  than 
a  royal  palace.  '  But,'  added  he,  laughing,  '  I 
suppose  you  would  not  allow  the  nuisance  of 
hawkers  and  pedlars  almost  under  your  nose,  if 
the  sweet  perfumes  of  a  handsome  present  did 
not  compensate  for  the  disagreeable  effluvia 
exhaling  from  their  filthy  traffic.' 

"On  this,  Louis  XVI.,  in  a  tone  of  voice 
somewhat  varying  from  his  usual  mildness,  assured 
the  Emperor  that  neither  himself  nor  the  Queen 
derived  any  advantage  from  the  custom,  beyond 
the  convenience  of  purchasing  articles  inside  the 
palace  at  the  moment  they  were  wanted;  without 
being  forced  to  send  for  them  elsewhere. 

" '  That  is  the  very  reason,  my  dear  brother,' 
replied  Joseph,  'why  I  would  not  allow  these 
shops  to  be  where  they  are.  The  temptation  to 
lavish  money  to  little  purpose  is  too  strong;  and 
women  have  not  philosophy  enough  to  resist 

i  It  was  an  old  custom,  in  the  passages  and  staircase  of 
all  the  royal  palaces,  for  tradespeople  to  sell  their  merchan- 
dise for  the  accommodation  of  the  Court. 


CHAPTER    VIII  179 

having  things  they  like,  when  they  can  be  obtained 
easily,  though  they  may  not  be  wanted.' 

"'Custom,'  answered  the  King 

"'True,'  exclaimed  the  Queen,  interrupting 
him ;  '  custom,  my  dear  brother,  obliges  us  to 
tolerate  in  France  many  things  which  you,  in 
Austria,  have  long  since  abolished ;  but  the  French 
are  not  to  be  treated  like  the  Germans.  A 
Frenchman  is  a  slave  to  habit.  His  very  caprice 
in  the  change  of  fashion,  proceeds  more  from  habit 
than  genius  or  invention.  His  very  restlessness  of 
character  is  systematic ;  and  old  customs  and 
national  habits  in  a  nation  virtually  spirituelle 
must  not  be  trifled  with.  The  tree  torn  up  by 
the  roots  dies  for  want  of  nourishment ;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  when  lopped  carefully  only  of  its 
branches  the  pruning  makes  it  more  valuable  tc 
the  cultivator  and  more  pleasing  to  the  beholder 
So  it  is  with  national  prejudices,  which  are  often 
but  the  excrescenses  of  national  virtues.  Root 
them  out  and  you  root  out  virtue  and  all.  They 
must  only  be  pruned  and  turned  to  profit.  A 
Frenchman  is  more  easily  killed  than  subdued. 
Even  his  follies  generally  spring  from  a  high 

12—2 


ISO  CHAPTER    VIII 

sense  of  national  dignity  and  honour,  which 
foreigners  cannot  but  respect.' l 

"  The  Emperor  Joseph  while  in  France  mixed 
in  all  sorts  of  society  to  gain  information  with 
respect  to  the  popular  feeling  towards  his  sister 
and  instruction  as  to  the  manners  and  modes  of 
life  and  thinking  of  the  French.  To  this  end 
he  would  often  associate  with  the  lowest  of  the 
common  people,  and  generally  gave  them  a  louis 
for  their  loss  of  time  in  attending  to  him. 

"  One  day,  when  he  was  walking  with  the 
young  Princess  Elizabeth  and  myself  in  the  public 
gardens  at  Versailles  and  in  deep  conversation 
with  us,  two  or  three  of  these  louis  ladies  came 
up  to  my  side  and,  not  knowing  who  I  was, 
whispered,  '  There's  no  use  in  paying  such  atten- 
tion to  the  stranger  :  After  all,  when  he  has  got 
what  he  wants,  he'll  only  give  you  a  louis  a-piece 
and  then  send  you  about  your  business.'  " 

i  Little  did  she  think  then  that  the  nation  she  was 
eulogizing  and  so  proud  of  governing  would  one  day  cause 
her  to  repent  her  partiality  by  barbarously  dragging  her  to 
an  ignominious  trial  and  cruel  death. 


CHAPTER    VIII  l8l 


NOTE. 

Thus  far  extend  the  anecdotes  which  the  Princess 
Lamballe  has  recorded  of  the  Emperor  Joseph ;  but  I 
cannot  dismiss  this  part  of  the  subject  without  noticing 
some  mistakes  which  Madame  Campan  has  admitted 
into  her  account  of  His  Imperial  Majesty  and  his  visit. 

Maria  Antoinette,  and  not  the  Queen  of  Naples, 
was  the  Emperor's  favourite.  The  Queen  of  Naples 
was  the  favourite  of  Leopold,  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany, 
who  succeeded  the  Emperor  Joseph  in  a  brief  reign. 
This  assertion  is  substantiated  by  the  Queen  of  Naples 
herself,  who  could  never  persuade  Joseph  II.  to  allow 
the  two  marriages  to  take  place  between  her  two 
daughters  and  the  present  Emperor  and  his  brother 
Ferdinand,  the  late  Duke  of  Tuscany.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  married  the  present  Emperor,  then  King  of 
the  Romans,  when  very  young,  to  his  first  wife,  the 
Princess  of  Wirtemberg,  sister  to  the  Empress 
Dowager  of  Russia,  to  stop  the  continued  importuni- 
ties of  his  sister,  the  Queen  of  Naples,  on  that  subject ; 
but  this  Princess  dying  at  Vienna  only  a  few  days 
previous  to  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Joseph  II., 
and  Leopold  succeeding,  the  marriages  between 
Francis  and  Ferdinand  and  the  daughters  of  the 
Queen  of  Naples  took  place  soon  after  Leopold 


l82  CHAPTER    VIII 

assumed  the  imperial  diadem,  when  Carolina  and 
Ferdinand,  her  husband,  the  late  King  of  Naples, 
accompanied  both  their  daughters  to  their  respective 
husbands. 

Though  Joseph  II.  freely  acknowledged  his  sister 
Carolina's  capacity  for  governing  Naples,  he  was  very 
much  displeased  at  her  instigating  Pope  Pius  VI.  to 
come  to  Vienna  to  remonstrate  with  him  on  the  sup- 
pression of  some  of  his  religious  houses.  He  avoided 
coming  to  any  explanation  with  the  holy  father  on 
this  or  any  other  subject  by  never  seeing  him  but 
in  public ;  and  though  the  Pope  resided  for  some 
months  at  Vienna,  and  travelled  to  that  city  from  the 
ancient  Christian  capital  of  the  world  for  no  other 
purpose,  yet  His  Holiness  was  unable  to  get  a  sight 
of  the  Emperor  except  at  public  levee  days,  and  was 
obliged  to  return  to  Rome  with  the  mortification 
of  having  humiliated  himself  by  an  utterly  fruitless 
journey. 

When  Joseph  II.  had  been  informed  that  the 
Queen  of  Naples  had  expressed  herself  hostile  to  his 
innovations,  he  told  her  Ambassador,  "T^ltti  son  padroni 
a  casa  sua." 

From  these  circumstances  I  think  it  seems  pretty 
evident  that  Madame  Campan  has  been  led  into  an 
error  when  she  says  that  Joseph  II.  and  the  Queen 
of  Naples  idolised  each  other.  The  very  reverse  is 
the  fact ;  but  it  was  their  mutual  interest  to  keep  up 


CHAPTER    VIII  183 

political  appearances  from  the  two  extreme  situations 
they  held  in  Italy. 

It  was  Joseph  II.,  on  his  leaving  Italy  and  coming 
to  Paris,  who  interested  himself  with  his  favourite 
sister,  the  Queen  of  France,  to  cause  the  King,  her 
husband,  to  settle  the  differences  then  subsisting  be- 
tween the  Court  of  Naples  and  that  of  Spain;  and  it 
was  his  opinion  which  some  time  afterwards  influenced 
the  Queen  of  France  to  refuse  the  offer  of  the  Queen 
of  Naples  to  affiance  her  daughter,  the  present  Duchess 
D'Angouleme,  to  the  Crown  Prince,  son  of  the  Queen 
of  Naples,  and  to  propose  as  more  eligible  a  marriage 
which,  since  the  Revolution,  has  taken  place  between 
the  house  of  Orleans  and  that  of  Naples. 

I  know  not  whether  the  individuals  since  united 
are  the  same  who  were  then  proposed,  but  the  union 
of  the  houses  was  certainly  suggested  by  Maria 
Antoinette,  with  the  consent  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
of  Orleans,  with  whom,  or  rather  with  the  last  of 
whom,  the  Queen  of  France  was  then  upon  terms  oi 
intimacy. 


CHAPTER   IX 

JOURNAL  CONTINUED — PLEASURE    OF    HEARING    OF    THE 

BIRTH   OF  CHILDREN THE    QUEEN'S   EXULTATION   AT 

FINDING  HERSELF  PREGNANT — FAVOURABLE  CHANGE 
IN  THE  PUBLIC  SENTIMENT — THE  KING'S  AUNTS 
ANNOYED  AT  THE  QUEEN'S  PROSPERITY HER  PREG- 
NANCY ASCRIBED  BY  DU  BARRY  TO  D'ARTOIS 

LAMBALLE  INTERFERES  TO  PREVENT  A  PRIVATE 
MEETING  BETWEEN  THE  QUEEN  AND  BARON 
BESENVAL — COOLNESS  IN  CONSEQUENCE — THE  INTER- 
VIEW GRANTED,  AND  THE  RESULT  AS  FEARED — THE 
QUEEN  SENSIBLE  OF  HER  ERROR — THE  POLIGNACS — 
NIGHT  PROMENADES  ON  THE  TERRACE  AT  VERSAILLES 

AND    AT    TRIANON QUEEN'S    REMARK    ON    HEARING 

OF  DU  BARRY'S  INTRIGUE  AGAINST  HER — PRINCESS 
LAMBALLE  DECLINES  GOING  TO  THE  EVENING  PROME- 
NADES— VERMOND  STRENGTHENS  MARIA  ANTOINETTE'S 

HATRED  OF  ETIQUETTE — HER   GOODNESS  OF  HEART 

DROLL  ANECDOTE  OF  THE  CHEVALIER  D*EON 

"  I  REMEMBER  an  old  lady  who  could  not 
bear  to  be  told  of  deaths.  '  Psha  !  Pshaw  I '  she 
would  exclaim.  '  Bring  me  no  tales  of  funerals  ! 
Talk  of  births  and  of  those  who  are  likely  to 
be  blest  with  them  1  These  are  the  joys  which 
gladden  old  hearts  and  fill  youthful  ones  with 


CHAPTER    IX  185 

ecstasy !  It  is  our  own  reproduction  in  children 
which  makes  us  quit  the  world  happy  and  con- 
tented ;  because  then  we  only  retire  to  make  room 
for  another  race,  bringing  with  them  all  those 
faculties  which  are  in  us  decayed ;  and  capable, 
which  we  ourselves  have  ceased  to  be,  of  taking 
our  parts  and  figuring  on  the  stage  of  life  so  long 
as  it  may  please  the  Supreme  Manager  to  busy 
them  in  earthly  scenes ! — Then  talk  no  more  to  me 
of  weeds  and  mourning,  but  show  me  christenings 
and  all  those  who  give  employ  to  the  baptismal 
font ! f 

"  Such  also  was  the  exulting  feeling  of  Maria 
Antoinette  when  she  no  longer  doubted  of  her 
wished-for  pregnancy.  The  idea  of  becoming  a 
mother  filled  her  soul  with  an  exuberant  delight, 
which  made  the  very  pavement  on  which  she  trod 
vibrate  with  the  words  '  I  shall  be  a  mother ! 
I  shall  be  a  mother ! '  She  was  so  overjoyed 
that  she  not  only  made  it  public  throughout 
France  but  despatches  were  sent  off  to  all  her 
royal  relatives.  And  was  not  her  rapture  natural  ? 
so  long  as  she  had  waited  for  the  result  of  every 
youthful  union,  and  so  coarsely  0s  she  had  been 


l86  CHAPTER    IX 

reproached  with  her  misfortune !  Now  came  her 
triumph.  She  could  now  prove  to  the  world, 
like  all  the  descendants  oi  the  house  of  Austria, 
that  there  was  no  defect  with  her.  The  satirists 
and  the  malevolent  were  silenced.  Louis  XVI., 
from  the  cold,  insensible  bridegroom,  became  the 
infatuated  admirer  of  his  long-neglected  wife. 
The  enthusiasm  with  which  the  event  was  hailed 
by  all  France  atoned  for  the  partial  insults  she 
had  received  before  it.  The  splendid  fetes,  balls, 
and  entertainments,  indiscriminately  lavished  by 
all  ranks  throughout  the  kingdom  on  this  occasion, 
augmented  those  of  the  Queen  and  the  Court  to 
a  pitch  of  magnificence  surpassing  the  most 
luxurious  and  voluptuous  times  of  the  great  and 
brilliant  Louis  XIV.  Entertainments  were  given 
even  to  the  domestics  of  every  description  belonging 
to  the  royal  establishments.  Indeed,  so  general 
was  the  joy  that,  among  those  who  could  do 
no  more,  there  could  scarcely  be  found  a  father 
or  mother  in  France  who,  before  they  took  their 
wine,  did  not  first  offer  up  a  prayer  for  the 
prosperous  pregnancy  of  their  beloved  Queen. 

"  And    yet,    though    the    situation    of    Maria 


CHAPTER  IX  187 

Antoinette  was  now  become  the  theme  of  a  whole 
nation's  exultation,  she  herself,  the  owner  of  the 
precious  burthen,  selected  by  Heaven  as  its  special 
depositary,  was  the  only  one  censured  for  expressing 
all  her  happiness  1 

"Those  models  of  decorum,  the  virtuous 
Princesses,  her  aunts,  deemed  it  highly  indelicate 
in  Her  Majesty  to  have  given  public  marks  of  her 
satisfaction  to  those  deputed  to  compliment  her 
on  her  prosperous  situation.  To  avow  the  joy 
she  felt  was  in  their  eyes  indecent  and  unqueenly. 
Where  was  the  shrinking  bashfulness  of  that  one 
of  these  Princesses  who  had  herself  been  so 
clamorous  to  Louis  XV.  against  her  husband,  the 
Duke  of  Modena,  for  not  having  consummated 
her  own  marriage  ? 

"The  party  of  the  dismissed  favourite  Du 
Barry  were  still  working  underground.  Their 
pestiferous  vapours  issued  from  the  recesses  of 
the  earth,  to  obscure  the  brightness  of  the  rising 
sun,  which  was  now  rapidly  towering  to  its  climax, 
to  obliterate  the  little  planets  which  had  once 
endeavoured  to  eclipse  its  beautiful  rays,  but  were 
now  incapable  of  competition,  and  unable  to 


1 88  CHAPTER    IX 

endure  its  lustre.  This  malignant  nest  of  serpents 
began  to  poison  the  minds  of  the  courtiers,  as 
soon  as  the  pregnancy  was  obvious,  by  inuendos 
on  the  partiality  of  the  Count  d'Artois  for  the 
Queen ;  and  at  length,  infamously,  and  openly, 
dared  to  point  him  out  as  the  cause ! 

"  Thus,  in  the  heart  of  the  Court  itself,  origi- 
nated this  most  atrocious  slander,  long  before  it 
reached  the  nation,  and  so  much  assisted  to 
destroy  Her  Majesty's  popularity  with  a  people, 
who  now  adored  her  amiableness,  her  general 
kind-heartedness,  and  her  unbounded  charity. 

"  I  have  repeatedly  seen  the  Queen  and  the 
Count  d'Artois  together  under  circumstances  in 
which  there  could  have  been  no  concealment  of 
her  real  feelings;  and  I  can  firmly  and  boldly 
assert  the  falsehood  of  this  allegation  against 
my  royal  mistress.  The  only  attentions  Maria 
Antoinette  received  in  the  earlier  part  of  her 
residence  in  France  were  from  her  grandfather 
and  her  brothers-in-law.  Of  these,  the  Count 
d'Artois  was  the  only  one  who,  from  youth  and 
liveliness  of  character,  thoroughly  sympathised  with 
his  sister.  But,  beyond  the  little  freedoms  of  two 


CHAPTER    IX  189 

young  and  innocent  playmates,  nothing  can  be 
charged  upon  their  intimacy ;  no  familiarity 
whatever  farther  than  was  warranted  by  their 
relationship.  I  can  bear  witness  that  Her 
Majesty's  attachment  for  the  Count  d'Artois  never 
differed  in  its  nature  from  what  she  felt  for  her 
brother  the  Emperor  Joseph.1 

"It  is  very  likely  that  the  slander  of  which 
I  speak,  derived  some  colour  of  probability 
afterwards  with  the  million,  from  the  Queen's 
thoughtlessness,  relative  to  the  challenge  which 
passed  between  the  Count  d'Artois  and  the  Duke 
de  Bourbon.  In  right  of  my  station,  I  was  one 
of  Her  Majesty's  confidential  counsellors,  and  if. 
became  my  duty  to  put  restraint  upon  her  inclina- 
tions, whenever  I  conceived  they  led  her  wrong. 

I  When  the  King  thought  proper  to  be  reconciled  to 
the  Queen  after  the  death  of  his  grandfather,  Louis  XV.,  and 
that  she  became  a  mother,  she  really  was  very  much 
attached  to  Louis  XVI.,  as  may  be  proved  from  her  never 
quitting  him,  and  suffering  all  the  horrid  sacrifices  she 
endured,  through  the  whole  period  of  the  Revolution, 
rather  than  leave  her  husband,  her  children,  or  her 
sister.  Maria  Antoinette  might  have  saved  her  life  twenty 
times,  had  not  the  King's  safety,  united  with  her  own  and 
that  of  her  family,  impelled  her  to  reject  every  proposition 
of  selt-preservation. 


1 9O  CHAPTER    IX 

In  this  instance,  I  exercised  my  prerogative 
decidedly,  and  even  so  much  so  as  to  create 
displeasure ;  but  I  anticipated  the  consequences, 
which  actually  ensued,  and  preferred  to  risk  my 
royal  mistress's  displeasure  rather  than  her  repu- 
tation. The  dispute,  which  led  to  the  duel,  was 
on  some  point  of  etiquette  ;  and  the  Baron  de 
Besenval  was  to  attend  as  second  to  one  of  the 
parties.  From  the  Queen's  attachment  for  her 
royal  brother,  she  wished  the  affair  to  be  amicably 
arranged,  without  the  knowledge  either  of  the 
King,  who  was  ignorant  of  what  had  taken  place, 
or  of  the  parties  ;  which  could  only  be  effected 
by  her  seeing  the  baron  in  the  most  private 
manner.  I  opposed  Her  Majesty's  allowing  any 
interview  with  the  baron  upon  any  terms,  unless 
sanctioned  by  the  King.  This  unexpected  and 
peremptory  refusal  obliged  the  Queen  to  transfer 
her  confidence  to  the  librarian,  who  introduced 
the  baron  into  one  of  the  private  apartments  of 
Her  Majesty's  women,  communicating  with  that 
of  the  Queen,  where  Her  Majesty  could  see  the 
baron  without  the  exposure  of  passing  any  of  the 
other  attendants.  The  baron  was  quite  gray,  and 


CHAPTER    IX 


upwards  of  sixty  years  of  age!  But  the  self- 
conceited  dotard  soon  caused  the  Queen  to  repent 
her  misplaced  confidence,  and  from  his  unwarrant- 
able impudence  on  that  occasion,  when  he  found 
himself  alone  with  the  Queen,  Her  Majesty,  though 
he  was  a  constant  member  of  the  societies  of  the 
Polignacs,  ever  after  treated  him  with  sovereign 
contempt. 

"The  Queen  herself  afterwards  described  to 
me  the  baron's  presumptuous  attack  upon  her 
credulity.  From  this  circumstance  I  thenceforward 
totally  excluded  him  from  my  parties,  where  Her 
Majesty  was  always  a  regular  visitor. 

"The  coolness  to  which  my  determination 
not  to  allow  the  interview  gave  rise  between  Her 
Majesty  and  myself  was  but  momentary.  The 
Queen  had  too  much  discernment  not  to  appre- 
ciate the  basis  upon  which  my  denial  was  grounded, 
even  before  she  was  convinced  by  the  result  how 
correct  had  been  my  reflections.  She  felt  her 
error,  and,,  by  the  mediation  of  the  Duke  of 
Dorset,  we  were  reunited  more  closely  than  ever, 
and  so,  I  trust,  we  shall  remain  till  death  I 

"There  was  much  more  attempted  to  be  made 


CHAPTER    IX 


of  another  instance,  in  which  I  exercised  the  duty 
of  my  office,  than  the  truth  justified  —  the  nightly 
promenades  on  the  terrace  at  Versailles,  or  at 
Trianon.  Though  no  amusement  could  have  been 
more  harmless  or  innocent  for  a  private  individual, 
yet  I  certainly  disapproved  of  it  for  a  queen,  and 
therefore  withheld  the  sanction  of  my  attendance. 
My  sole  objection  was  on  the  score  of  dignity.  I 
well  knew  that  Du  Barry  and  her  infamous  party 
were  constant  spies  upon  the  Queen  on  every 
occasion  of  such  a  nature;  and  that  they  would 
not  fail  to  exaggerate  her  every  movement  to  her 
prejudice.  Though  Du  Barry  could  not  form 
one  of  the  party,  which  was  a  great  source  of 
heart-burning,  it  was  easy  for  her,  under  the 
circumstances,  to  mingle  with  the  throng.  When 
I  suggested  these  objections  to  the  Queen,  Her 
Majesty,  feeling  no  inward  cause  of  reproach,  and 
being  sanctioned  in  what  she  did  by  the  King 
himself,  laughed  at  the  idea  of  these  little  excur- 
sions affording  food  for  scandal.  I  assured  Her 
Majesty  that  I  had  every  reason  to  be  convinced 
that  Du  Barry  was  often  in  disguise  not  far  from 
the.  seat  where  Her  Majesty  and  the  Princess 


CHAPTER   IX  193 

Elizabeth  could  be  overheard  in  their  most  secret 
conversations  with  each  other.  '  Listeners,'  replied 
the  Queen,  '  never  hear  any  good  of  themselves.' 

" '  My  dear  Lamballe,'  she  continued,  '  you 
have  taken  such  a  dislike  to  this  woman  that  you 
cannot  conceive  she  can  be  occupied  but  in  mis- 
chief. This  is  uncharitable.  She  certainly  has 
no  reason  to  be  dissatisfied  with  either  the  King  or 
myself.  We  have  both  left  her  in  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  all  she  possessed  except  the  right  of 
appearing  at  Court  or  continuing  in  the  society 
her  conduct  had  too  long  disgraced.' 

"  I  said  it  was  very  true,  but  that  I  should 
be  happier  to  find  Her  Majesty  so  scrupulous  as 
never  to  give  an  opportunity  even  for  the  false- 
hoods of  her  enemies. 

"  Her  Majesty  turned  the  matter  off,  as  usual, 
by  saying  she  had  no  idea  of  injuring  others,  and 
could  not  believe  that  anyone  would  wantonly 
injure  her,  adding,  'The  Duchess  and  the  Princess 
Elizabeth,  my  two  sisters,  and  all  the  other  ladies, 
are  coming  to  hear  the  concert  this  evening,  and 
you  will  be  delighted.' 

"  I  excused  myself  under  the  plea  of  the  night 
VOL.   i  13 


IQ4  CHAPTER   IX 

air  disagreeing  with  my  health,  and  returned  to 
Versailles  without  ever  making  myself  one  of  the 
nocturnal  members  of  Her  Majesty's  society,  well 
knowing  she  could  dispense  with  my  presence, 
there  being  more  than  enough  ever  ready  to  hurry 
her  by  their  own  imprudence  into  the  folly  of 
despising  criticisms,  which  I  always  endeavoured 
to  avoid,  though  I  did  not  fear  them.  Of  these  I 
cannot  but  consider  her  secretary  as  one.  The 
following  circumstance  connected  with  the  pro- 
menades is  a  proof: 

"  The  Abbe"  Vermond  was  present  one  day 
when  Maria  Antoinette  observed  that  she  felt 
rather  indisposed.  I  attributed  it  to  Her  Majesty's 
having  lightened  her  dress  and  exposed  herself 
too  much  to  the  night  air.  '  Heavens,  madame ! ' 
cried  the  Abbe",  '  would  you  always  have  Her 
Majesty  cased  up  in  steel  armour  and  not  take 
the  fresh  air  without  being  surrounded  by  a 
troop  of  horse  and  foot,  as  a  field-marshal  is 
when  going  to  storm  a  fortress  ?  Pray,  Princess, 
now  that  Her  Majesty  has  freed  herself  from 
the  annoying  shackles  of  Madame  Etiquette  (the 
Countess  de  Noailles),  let  her  enjoy  the  pleasure 


CHAPTER    IX  195 

of  a  simple  robe  and  breathe  freely  the  fresh 
morning  dew,  as  has  been  her  custom  all  her 
life  (and  as  her  mother  before  her,  the  Empress 
Maria  Theresa,  has  done  and  continues  to  do,  even 
to  this  day),  unfettered  by  antiquated  absurdities  1 
Let  me  be  anything  rather  than  a  Queen  of 
France,  if  I  must  be  doomed  to  the  slavery  of 
such  tyrannical  rules  I ' 

" '  True ;  but,  sir,'  replied  I,  '  you  should 
reflect  that  if  you  were  a  Queen  of  France, 
France,  in  making  you  mistress  of  her  destinies, 
and  placing  you  at  the  head  of  her  nation,  would 
in  return  look  for  respect  from  you  to  her  cus- 
toms and  manners.  I  am  born  an  Italian,  but 
I  renounced  all  national  peculiarities  of  thinking 
and  acting  the  moment  I  set  my  foot  on  French 
ground.' 

" '  And  so   did    I,'   said    Maria   Antoinette. 

" '  I  know  you  did,  madame,'  I  answered  ; 
'but  I  am  replying  to  your  preceptor ;  and  I 
only  wish  he  saw  things  in  the  same  light  I  do. 
When  we  are  at  Rome,  we  should  do  as  Rome  does. 
You  have  never  had  a  regicide  Bertrand  de 

Gurdon,  a   Ravillac,  or  a   Damiens  in   Germany ; 

13—2 


196  CHAPTER   IX 

but  they  have  been  common  in  France,  and  the 
sovereigns  of  France  cannot  be  too  circumspect 
in  their  maintenance  of  ancient  etiquette  to  com- 
mand the  dignified  respect  of  a  frivolous  and 
versatile  people.' 

"  The  Queen,  though  she  did  not  strictly 
adhere  to  my  counsels  or  the  Abb6's  advice,  had 
too  much  good  sense  to  allow  herself  to  be 
prejudiced  against  me  by  her  preceptor;  but  the 
Abbe"  never  entered  on  the  propriety  or  impro- 
priety of  the  Queen's  conduct  before  me,  and 
from  the  moment  I  have  mentioned  studiously 
avoided,  in  my  presence,  anything  which  could 
lead  to  discussion  on  the  change  of  dress  and 
amusements  introduced  by  Her  Majesty. 

"Although  I  disapproved  of  Her  Majesty's 
deviations  from  established  forms  in  this,  or, 
indeed,  any  respect,  yet  I  never,  before  or  after, 
expressed  my  opinion  before  a  third  person. 

"  Never  should  I  have  been  so  firmly  and 
so  long  attached  to  Maria  Antoinette,  had  I  not 
known  that  her  native  thorough  goodness  of 
heart  had  been  warped  and  misguided,  though 
acting  at  the  same  time  with  the  best  intentions, 


CHAPTER   IX  197 

by  a  false  notion  of  her  real  innocence  being  a 
sufficient  shield  against  the  public  censure  of 
such  innovations  upon  national  prejudices,  as  she 
thought  proper  to  introduce ;  the  fatal  error  of 
conscious  rectitude,  encouraged  in  its  regardless- 
ness  of  appearances  by  those  very  persons  who 
well  knew  that  it  is  only  by  appearances  a  nation 
can  judge  of  its  rulers. 

"  I  remember  a  ludicrous  circumstance  arising 
from  the  Queen's  innocent  curiosity,  in  which,  if 
there  were  anything  to  blame,  I  myself  am  to 
be  censured  for  lending  myself  to  it  so  heartily 
to  satisfy  Her  Majesty. 

"  When  the  Chevalier  d'Eon  was  allowed  to 
return  to  France,  Her  Majesty  expressed  a 
particular  inclination  to  see  this  extraordinary 
character.  From  prudential  as  well  as  political 
motives,  she  was  at  first  easily  persuaded  to  re- 
press her  desire.  However,  by  a  most  ludicrous 
occurrence,  it  was  revived,  and  nothing  would  do 
but  she  must  have  a  sight  of  the  being  who  had 
for  some  time  been  the  talk  of  every  society,  and 
at  the  period  to  which  I  allude  was  become  the 
mirth  of  all  Paris. 


198  CHAPTER   IX 

"  The  Chevalier  being  one  day  in  a  very  large 
party  of  both  sexes,  in  which,  though  his  appear- 
ance had  more  of  the  old  soldier  in  it  than  of  the 
character  he  was  compelled  malgre  lui1  to  adopt, 
many  of  the  guests  having  no  idea  to  what  sex 
this  nondescript  animal  really  belonged,  the  con- 
versation after  dinner  happened  to  turn  on  the 
manly  exercise  of  fencing.  Heated  by  a  subject 
to  him  so  interesting,  the  Chevalier,  forgetful  of 
the  respect  due  to  his  assumed  garb,  started  from 
his  seat,  and  pulling  up  his  petticoats,  threw  him- 
self on  guard.  Though  dressed  in  male  attire 
underneath,  this  sudden  freak  sent  all  the  ladies 
and  many  of  the  gentlemen  out  of  the  room  in 
double  quick  time.  The  Chevalier,  however,  in- 
stantly recovering  from  the  first  impulse,  quietly 
put  down  his  upper  garment,  and  begged  pardon 
in  a  gentlemanly  manner  for  having  for  a  moment 
deviated  from  the  forms  of  his  imposed  situation. 

I  It  may  be  necessary  to  observe  here  that  the 
Chevalier,  having  from  some  particular  motives  been 
banished  from  France,  was  afterward  permitted  to  return 
only  on  condition  of  never  appearing  but  in  the  disguised 
dress  of  a  female,  though  he  was  always  habited  in  the 
male  costume  underneath  it. 


CHAPTER   IX  199 

All  the  gossips  of  Paris  were  presently  amused 
with  the  story,  which,  of  course,  reached  the 
Court,  with  every  droll  particular  of  the  pulling 
up  and  clapping  down  the  cumbrous  paraphernalia 
of  a  hoop  petticoat. 

"The  King  and  Queen,  from  the  manner  in 
which  they  enjoyed  the  tale  when  told  them  (and 
certainly  it  lost  nothing  in  the  report),  would  not 
have  been  the  least  amused  of  the  party  had  they 
been  present.  His  Majesty  shook  the  room  with 
laughing,  and  the  Queen,  the  Princess  Elizabeth, 
and  the  other  ladies  were  convulsed  at  the 
description. 

"  When  we  were  alone,  '  How  I  should  like,' 
said  the  Queen,  '  to  see  this  curious  man-woman  ! ' 
'  Indeed,'  replied  I,  '  I  have  not  less  curiosity  than 
yourself,  and  I  think  we  may  contrive  to  let  Your 
Majesty  have  a  peep  at  him — her,  I  mean ! — 
without  compromising  your  dignity,  or  offending 
the  minister  who  interdicted  the  Chevalier  from 
appearing  in  your  presence.  I  know  he  has  ex- 
pressed the  greatest  mortification,  and  that  his 
wish  to  see  Your  Majesty  is  almost  irrepressible.' 

" '  But  how  will  you  be  able  to   contrive  this 


200  CHAPTER   IX 

without  its  being  known  to  the  King,  or  to  the 
Count  de  Vergennes,  who  would  never  forgive 
me  ?  '  exclaimed  Her  Majesty. 

"  '  Why,  on  Sunday,  when  you  go  to  chapel, 
I  will  cause  him,  by  some  means  or  other,  to 
make  his  appearance,  en  grande  costume,  among  the 
group  of  ladies  who  are  generally  waiting  there 
to  be  presented  to  Your  Majesty.' 

"  '  Oh,  you  charming  creature  !  '  said  the 
Queen.  '  But  won't  the  minister  banish  or  exile 
him  for  it  ?  ' 

"  '  No,  no !  He  has  only  been  forbidden  an 
audience  of  Your  Majesty  at  Court,'  I  replied. 

"  '  In  good  earnest,  on  the  Sunday  following, 
the  Chevalier  was  dressed  en  costume,  with  a  large 
hoop,  very  long  train,  sack,  five  rows  of  ruffles, 
an  immensely  high  powdered  female  wig,  very 
beautiful  lappets,  white  gloves,  an  elegant  fan  in 
his  hand,  his  beard  closely  shaved,  his  neck  and 
ears  adorned  with  diamond  rings  and  necklaces, 
and  assuming  all  the  airs  and  graces  of  a  fine  lady ! 

"  But,  unluckily,  his  anxiety  was  so  great,  the 
moment  the  Queen  made  her  appearance,  to  get 
a  sight  of  Her  Majesty,  that,  on  rushing  before 


CHAPTER   IX  201 

the  other  ladies,  his  wig  and  head-dress  fell  off 
his  head;  and,  before  they  could  be  well  replaced, 
he  made  so  ridiculous  a  figure,  by  clapping  them, 
in  his  confusion,  hind  part  before,  that  the  King, 
the  Queen,  and  the  whole  suite,  could  scarcely 
refrain  from  laughing  aloud  in  the  church. 

"Thus  ended  the  long  longed-for  sight  of  this 
famous  man-woman  I 

"  As  to  me,  it  was  a  great  while  before  I 
could  recover  myself.  Even  now,  I  laugh  whenever 
I  think  of  this  great  lady  deprived  of  her  head 
ornaments,  with  her  bald  pate  laid  bare,  to  the 
derision  of  such  a  multitude  of  Parisians,  always 
prompt  to  divert  themselves  at  the  expense  of 
others.  However,  the  affair  passed  off  unheeded, 
and  no  one  but  the  Queen  and  myself  ever  knew 
that  we  ourselves  had  been  innocently  the  cause 
of  this  comical  adventure.  When  we  met  after 
Mass,  we  were  so  overpowered,  that  neither  of  us 
could  speak  for  laughing.  The  bishop  who 
officiated,  said  it  was  lucky  he  had  no  sermon  to 
preach  that  day,  for  it  would  have  been  difficult 
for  him  to  have  recollected  himself,  or  to  have 
maintained  his  gravity.  The  ridiculous  appearance 


202  CHAPTER    IX 

of  the  Chevalier,  he  added,  was  so  continually 
presenting  itself  before  him  during  the  service 
that  it  was  as  much  as  he  could  do  to  restrain 
himself  from  laughing,  by  keeping  his  eyes  con- 
stantly riveted  on  the  book.  Indeed,  the  oddity 
of  the  affair  was  greatly  heightened  when,  in  the 
middle  of  the  Mass,  some  charitable  hand  having 
adjusted  the  wig  of  the  Chevalier,  he  re-entered 
the  chapel  as  if  nothing  had  happened,  and, 
placing  himself  exactly  opposite  the  altar,  with 
his  train  upon  his  arm,  stood  fanning  himself, 
a  la  coquette,  with  an  inflexible  self-possession 
which  only  rendered  it  the  more  difficult  for  those 
around  him  to  maintain  their  composure. 

"  Thus  ended  the  Queen's  curiosity.  The 
result  only  made  the  Chevalier's  company  in 
greater  request,  for  everyone  became  more  anxious 
than  ever  to  know  the  masculine  lady  who  had 
lost  her  wig  1 " 


CHAPTER    X 

OBSERVATIONS  OF  THE  EDITOR — JOURNAL  CONTINUED — 
BIRTH  OP  THE  DUCHESS  D*ANGOULEME  —  MARIA 
ANTOINETTE  DELIVERED  OF  A  DAUPHIN — INCREASING 
INFLUENCE  OF  THE  DUCHESS  DE  POLIGNAC  —  THE 

ABBA     VERMOND     HEADS     AN     INTRIGUE     AGAINST     IT 

POLIGNAC  MADE  GOVERNESS  OF  THE  ROYAL  CHILDREN 
— HER  SPLENDOUR  AND  INCREASING  UNPOPULARITY — 
ENVY  AND  RESENTMENT  OF  THE  NOBILITY — BIRTH  OF 
THE  DUKE  OF  NORMANDY — THE  QUEEN  ACCOMPLISHES 
THE  MARRIAGE  OF  THE  DUCHESS  DE  POLIGNAC's 
DAUGHTER  WITH  THE  DUKE  DE  GUICIIE — CABALS  OF 
THE  COURT — MARIA  ANTOINETTE'S  PARTIALITY  FOR 
THE  ENGLISH — LIBELS  ON  THE  QUEEN — PRIVATE  COM- 
MISSIONS TO  SUPPRESS  THEM  —  MOTIVES  OF  THE 
DUKE  DE  LAUZUN  FOR  JOINING  THE  CALUMNIATORS — 
DROLL  CONVERSATION  BETWEEN  MARIA  ANTOINETTE, 
LADY  SPENCER,  THE  DUKE  OF  DORSET,  ETC.,  AT 

VERSAILLES  INTERESTING     VISIT      OF      THE      GRAND 

DUKE     OF     THE     NORTH      (AFTERWARDS     THE     EMPEROR 

PAUL)      AND      HIS      DUCHESS    MARIA      ANTOINETTE'S 

DISGUST  AT  THE  KING  OF  SWEDEN — AUDACITY  OF 
THE  CARDINAL  DE  ROHAN 

FROM  the  time  that  the  Princess  Lamballe 
saw  the  ties  between  the  Queen  and  her  favourite 
Polignac  drawing  closer  she  became  less  assiduous 


204  CHAPTER    X 

in  her  attendance  at  Court,  being  reluctant  to 
importune  the  friends  by  her  presence  at  an 
intimacy  which  she  did  not  approve.  She  could 
not,  however,  withhold  her  accustomed  attentions, 
as  the  period  of  Her  Majesty's  accouchement 
approached ;  and  she  has  thus  noted  the  circum- 
stance of  the  birth  of  the  Duchess  d'Angouleme, 
on  the  igth  of  December,  1778. 

'  "  The  moment  for  the  accomplishment  of  the 
Queen's  darling  hope  was  now  at  hand :  she  was 
about  to  become  a  mother. 

"  It  had  been  agreed  between  Her  Majesty 
and  myself,  that  I  was  to  place  myself  so  near 
the  accoucheur,  Vermond,1  as  to  be  the  first  to 
distinguish  the  sex  of  the  new-born  infant,  and  if 
she  should  be  delivered  of  a  Dauphin  to  say,  in 
Italian,  II  figlio  e  nato. 

"  Her  Majesty  was,  however,  foiled  even  in 
this  the  most  blissful  of  her  desires.  She  was 
delivered  of  a  daughter  instead  of  a  Dauphin. 

"  From   the   immense   crowd    that    burst    into 

i  Brother  to  the  Abb6,  whose  pride  was  so  great  at 
this  honour  conferred  on  his  relative,  that  he  never  spoke 
of  him  without  denominating  him  Monsieur  mon  frere, 
I'accoucher  de  sa  Majeste,  Vermond. 


CHAPTER    X  2O5 

the  apartment  the  instant  Vermond  said,  The  Queen 
is  happily  delivered,  Her  Majesty  was  nearly  suffo- 
cated. I  had  hold  of  her  hand,  and  as  I  said  La 
regina  e  andato,  mistaking  andato  for  nato,  between 
the  joy  of  giving  birth  to  a  son  and  the  pressure 
of  the  crowd,  Her  Majesty  fainted.  Overcome  by 
the  dangerous  situation  in  which  I  saw  my  royal 
mistress  I  myself  was  carried  out  of  the  room  in 
a  lifeless  state.  The  situation  of  Her  Majesty 
was  for  some  time  very  doubtful  till  the  people 
were  dragged  with  violence  from  about  her,  that 
she  might  have  air.  On  her  recovering,  the  King 
was  the  first  person  who  told  her  that  she  was 
the  mother  of  a  very  fine  Princess. 

"  '  Well,  then,'  said  the  Queen,  '  I  am  like  my 
mother,  for  at  my  birth  she  also  wished  for  a  son 
instead  of  a  daughter  ;  and  you  have  lost  your 
wager ' :  for  the  King  had  betted  with  Maria 
Theresa  that  it  would  be  a  son. 

"  The    King    answered    her    by   repeating    the 
lines  Metastasio  had  written  on  that  occasion : 
lo  perdei :   1'augusta  figlia 

A  pagar,  m'a  condemnato : 
Ma  s'6  ver  che  a  voi  somiglia 
Tutto  il  mondo  ha  guadagnato." 


206  CHAPTER    X 

The  Princess  Lamballe  again  ceased  to  be 
constantly  about  the  Queen.  Her  danger  was 
over,  she  was  a  mother,  and  the  attentions  of 
disinterested  friendship  were  no  longer  indis- 
pensable. She  herself  about  this  time  met  with 
a  deep  affliction.  She  lost  both  of  her  own 
parents ;  and  to  her  sorrows  may,  in  a  great 
degree,  be  ascribed  her  silence  upon  the  events 
which  intervened  between  the  birth  of  Madame 
and  that  of  the  Dauphin.  She  was  as  assiduous 
as  ever  in  her  attentions  to  Her  Majesty  on  her 
second  lying-in.  The  circumstances  of  the  death 
of  Maria  Theresa,  the  Queen's  mother,  in  the 
interval  which  divided  the  two  accouchements, 
and  Her  Majesty's  anguish,  and  refusal  to  see 
any  but  Lamballe  and  Polignac,  are  too  well- 
known  to  detain  us  longer  from  the  notes  of  the 
Princess.  It  is  enough  for  the  reader  to  know 
that  the  friendship  of  Her  Majesty  for  her  super- 
intendent seemed  to  be  gradually  reviving  in  all 
its  early  enthusiasm,  by  her  unremitting  kindness 
during  the  confinements  of  the  Queen  ;  till,  at 
length,  they  became  more  attached  than  ever. 
But,  not  to  anticipate,  let  me  return  to  the 
narrative. 


CHAPTER    X  207 

"  The  public  feeling  had  undergone  a  great 
change  with  respect  to  Her  Majesty  from  the 
time  of  her  first  accouchement.  Still,  she  was 
not  the  mother  of  a  future  King.  The  people 
looked  upon  her  as  belonging  to  them  more  than 
she  had  done  before,  and  faction  was  silenced  by 
the  general  delight.  But  she  had  not  yet  attained 
the  climax  of  her  felicity.  A  second  pregnancy 
gave  a  new  excitement  to  the  nation  ;  and,  at 
length,  on  the  22nd  October,  1781,  dawned  the 
day  of  hope. 

"In  consequence  of  what  happened  on  the 
first  accouchement,  measures  were  taken  to  pre- 
vent similar  disasters  on  the  second.  The  number 
admitted  into  the  apartment  was  circumscribed. 
The  silence  observed  left  the  Queen  in  uncertainty 
of  the  sex  to  which  she  had  given  birth,  till, 
with  tears  of  joy,  the  King  said  to  her — '  Madame, 
the  hopes  of  the  nation,  and  mine,  are  fulfilled. 
You  are  the  mother  of  a  Dauphin.' 

"  The  Princess  Elizabeth  and  myself  were  so 
overjoyed  that  we  embraced  everyone  in  the 
room. 

"  At   this   time    Their  Majesties  were    adored. 


208  CHAPTER    X 

Maria  Antoinette,  with  all  her  beauty  and  amiable- 
ness,  was  a  mere  cipher  in  the  eyes  of  France 
previous  to  her  becoming  the  mother  of  an  heir  to 
the  Crown  ;  but  her  popularity  now  arose  to  a 
pitch  of  unequalled  enthusiasm. 

"  I  have  heard  of  but  one  expression  to  Her 
Majesty  upon  this  occasion  in  any  way  savouring 
of  discontent.  This  came  from  the  royal  aunts. 
On  Maria  Antoinette's  expressing  to  them  her  joy 
in  having  brought  a  Dauphin  to  the  nation,  they 
replied,  '  We  will  only  repeat  our  father's  obser- 
vation on  a  similar  subject.  When  one  of  our 
sisters  complained  to  his  late  Majesty  that,  as  her 
Italian  husband  had  copied  the  Dauphin's  whim, 
she  could  not,  though  long  a  bride,  boast  of  being 
a  wife,  or  hope  to  become  a  mother ' — '  a  prudent 
Princess,'  replied  Louis  XV.,  '  never  wants  heirs  1 ' 
But  the  feeling  of  the  royal  aunts  was  an  exception 
to  the  general  sentiment,  which  really  seemed  like 
madness. 

"  I  remember  a  proof  of  this  which  happened 
at  the  time.  Chancing  to  cross  the  King's  path 
as  he  was  going  to  Marly  and  I  coming  from 
Rambouillet,  my  two  postillions  jumped  from  their 


'ARIE- 

SA 
PRIXCESSE    DE    LAMBALLE 


After  a  painting  by  Claude  Hoin 


208  CHAPTER    X 

Maria  Antoinette,  with  all  her  beauty  c  ble- 

ness,  was  a  mere  cipher  in  the  eyes  of  France 
previous  to  her  becoming  the  mother  of  an  heir  to 
the  Crown  ;  but  her  popularity  now  arose  to  a 
pitch  of  unequalled  enthusiasm. 

"  I  have  heard  of  but  one  expression  to  Her 
Majesty  upon  this  occasion  in  any  way  savouring 
of  discontent.  This  came  from  the  royal  aunts. 
On  Maria  Antoinette's  expressing  to  them  her  joy 

in  having  brought  a  Dauphin  to  the  nation,  they 
repho.^^e^fJW^^^W^^g  obser. 

M    on   t^&M^fei^9^Hfo«fl    one    of  our 

:lAAU<c\\kkA    m    ^^VAT^hat,  as  her 

)a.uphin's  whim, 

iwto'&wsYS  ^  -sttrt^fc  ^A\k:'ast  °f  bcing 
me  a  mother  ' — *  a  prudent 

XV.,  '  never  wants  heirs  ! ' 

the  feeling  of  the  royal  aunts  was  an  exception 

.t,  which  really  seemed  like 

"  1  remember  a  proof  of  t  h  happened 

at  the  time.  Chancing  to  cross  the  King's  path 
as  he  was  going  to  Marly  and  I  coming  from 
Rambouillet,  my  two  postillions  jumped  from  their 


CHAPTER    X  20Q 

horses,  threw  themselves  on  the  high  road  upon 
their  knees,  though  it  was  very  dirty,  and  remained 
there,  offering  up  their  benedictions,  till  he  was 
out  of  sight.1 

"  The  felicity  of  the  Queen  was  too  great  not 
to  be  soon  overcast.  The  unbounded  influence  of 
the  Polignacs  was  now  at  its  zenith.  It  could  not 
fail  of  being  attacked.  Every  engine  of  malice, 
envy,  and  detraction  was  let  loose ;  and  in  the 
vilest  calumnies  against  the  character  of  the 
Duchess,  her  Royal  mistress  was  included. 

"  It  was,  in  truth,  a  most  singular  fatality  in 
the  life  of  Maria  Antoinette  that  she  could  do 
nothing,  however  beneficial  or  disinterested,  for 
which  she  was  not  either  criticised  or  censured. 
She  had  a  tenacity  of  character  which  made  her 
cling  more  closely  to  attachments  from  which  she 
saw  others  desirous  of  estranging  her  ;  and  this 
firmness,  however  excellent  in  principle,  was,  in 
her  case,  fatal  in  its  effects.  The  Abbe  Vermond, 
Her  Majesty's  confessor  and  tutor,  and,  unfor- 

i  These  very  men,  perhaps,  but  a  short  time  after, 
were  among  the  regicides  who  caused  him  to  be  butchered 
on  the  scaffold ! — What  a  lesson  for  Princes  I 

VOL.  I  14 


2IO  CHAPTER    X 

tunately,  in  many  respects,  her  ambitious  guide, 
was  really  alarmed  at  the  rising  favour  of  the 
Duchess ;  and  though  he  knew  the  very  obstacles 
thrown  in  her  way  only  strengthened  her  resolution 
as  to  any  favourite  object,  yet  he  ventured  to  head 
an  intrigue  to  destroy  the  great  influence  of  the 
Polignacs,  which,  as  he  might  have  foreseen,  only 
served  to  hasten  their  aggrandisement. 

"  At  this  crisis  the  dissipation  of  the  Duke 
de  Guemene'e  caused  him  to  become  a  bankrupt. — 
I  know  not  whether  it  can  be  said  in  principle, 
but  certainly  it  may  in  property,  '  It  is  an  ill 
wind  that  blows  no  one  any  good.'  The  Princess, 
his  wife,  having  been  obliged  to  leave  her  residence 
at  Versailles,  in  consequence  of  the  Duke's  dis- 
missal from  the  King's  service  on  account  of  the 
disordered  state  of  his  pecuniary  circumstances, 
the  situation  of  governess  to  the  royal  children 
became  necessarily  vacant,  and  was  immediately 
transferred  to  the  Duchess  de  Polignac.  The 
Queen,  to  enable  her  friend  to  support  her  station 
with  all  the  eclat  suitable  to  its  dignity,  took 
care  to  supply  ample  means  from  her  own  private 
purse.  A  most  magnificent  suite  of  apartments 


CHAPTER    X  211 

was  ordered  to  be  arranged,  under  the  immediate 
inspection  of  the  Queen's  maitre  d'hotel,  at  Her 
Majesty's  expense. 

"  Is  there  anything  on  earth  more  natural 
than  the  lively  interest  which  inspires  a  mother 
towards  those  who  have  the  care  of  her  offspring  ? 
What  then,  must  have  been  the  feelings  of  a  Queen 
of  France  who  had  been  deprived  of  that  blessing 
for  which  connubial  attachments  are  formed,  and 
which,  vice  versa,  constitutes  the  only  real  happiness 
of  every  young  female. — What  must  have  been,  I 
say,  the  ecstasy  of  Maria  Antoinette  when  she  not 
only  found  herself  a  mother,  but  the  dear  pledges 
of  all  her  future  bliss  in  the  hands  of  one  whose 
friendship  allowed  her  the  unrestrained  exercise  of 
maternal  affection :  a  climax  of  felicity  combining 
not  only  the  pleasures  of  an  ordinary  mother,  but 
the  greatness,  the  dignity,  and  the  flattering  popu- 
larity of  a  Queen  of  France. 

"  Though  the  pension  of  the  Duchess  de 
Polignac  was  no  more  than  that  usually  allotted 
to  all  former  governesses  of  the  royal  children  of 
France,  yet  circumstances  tempted  her  to  a  display 

not  a  little  injurious  to  her  popularity  as  well  as 

14—2 


212  CHAPTER    X 

to  that  of  her  royal  mistress.  She  gave  too  many 
pretexts  to  imputations  of  extravagance.  Yet  she 
had  neither  patronage,  nor  sinecures,  nor  immuni- 
ties beyond  the  few  inseparable  from  the  office  she 
held,  and  which  had  been  the  same  for  centuries 
under  the  Monarchy  of  France.  But  it  must  be 
remembered,  as  an  excuse  for  the  splendour  of  her 
establishment,  that  she  entered  her  office  upon  a 
footing  very  different  from  that  of  any  of  her 
predecessors.  Her  mansion  was  not  the  quiet, 
retired,  simple  household  of  the  governess  of  the 
royal  children,  as  formerly  :  it  had  become  the 
magnificent  resort  of  the  first  Queen  in  Europe ; 
the  daily  haunt  of  Her  Majesty.  The  Queen 
certainly  visited  the  former  governess,  as  she  had 
done  the  Duchess  de  Duras  and  many  other 
frequenters  of  her  Court  parties ;  but  she  made 
the  Duchess  de  Polignac's  her  Court ;  and  all  the 
courtiers  of  that  Court,  and  I  may  say,  the  great 
personages  of  all  France,  as  well  as  the  ministers 
and  all  foreigners  of  distinction,  held  there  their 
usual  rendezvous  ;  consequently,  there  was  nothing 
wanting  but  the  guards  in  attendance  in  the 
Queen's  apartments  to  have  made  it  a  royal 


CHAPTER    X  213 

residence  suitable  for  the  reception  of  the  illustrious 
personages  that  were,  in  the  constant  habit  of 
visiting  these  levees,  assemblies,  balls,  routs,  pic- 
nics, dinner,  supper,  and  card  parties.1 

"  Much  as  some  of  the  higher  classes  of  the 
nobility  felt   aggrieved  at  the   preference  given  by 


i  I  have  seen  ladies  at  the  Princess  Lamballe's  come 
from  these  card  parties  with  their  laps  so  blackened  by 
the  quantities  of  gold  received  in  them,  that  they  have  been 
obliged  to  change  their  dresses  to  go  to  supper.  Many  a 
chevalier  d'industrie  and  young  military  spendthrift  has  made 
his  harvest  here.  Thousands  were  won  and  lost,  and  the 
ladies  were  generally  the  dupes  of  all  those  who  were  the 
constant  speculative  attendants.  The  Princess  Lamballe  did 
not  like  play,  but  when  it  was  necessary  she  did  play,  and 
won  or  lost  to  a  limited  extent ;  but  the  prescribed  sum 
once  exhausted  or  gained  she  left  off.  In  set  parties,  such 
as  those  of  whist,  she  never  played  except  when  one  was 
wanted,  often  excusing  herself  on  the  score  of  its  requiring 
more  attention  than  it  was  in  her  power  to  give  to  it  and 
her  reluctance  to  sacrifice  her  partner  ;  though  I  have  heard 
Beau  Dillon,  the  Duke  of  Dorset,  Lord  Edward  Dillon,  and 
many  others  say  that  she  understood  and  played  the  game 
much  better  than  many  who  had  a  higher  opinion  of  their 
skill  in  it.  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald  was  admitted  to  the 
parties  at  the  Duchess  de  Polignac's  on  his  first  coming 
to  Paris ;  but  when  his  connection  with  the  Duke  of  Orleans 
and  Madame  de  Genlis  became  known  he  was  informed 
that  his  society  would  be  dispensed  with.  The  famous,  or 
rather  the  infamous,  Beckford  was  also  excluded. 


214  CHAPTER    X 

the  Queen  to  the  Duchess  de  Polignac,  that  which 
raised  against  Her  Majesty  the  most  implacable 
resentment  was  her  frequenting  the  parties  of  her 
favourite  more  than  those  of  any  other  of  the 
haut  ton.  These  assemblies,  from  the  situation 
held  by  the  Duchess,  could  not  always  be  the 
most  select.  Many  of  the  guests  who  chanced  to 
get  access  to  them  from  a  mere  glimpse  of  the 
Queen — whose  general  good  humour,  vivacity,  and 
constant  wish  to  please  all  around  her  would 
often  make  her  commit  herself  unconsciously  and 
unintentionally — would  fabricate  anecdotes  of  things 
they  had  neither  seen  nor  heard  ;  and  which 
never  had  existence,  except  in  their  own  wicked 
imaginations.  The  scene  of  the  inventions,  circu- 
lated against  Her  Majesty  through  France,  was, 
in  consequence,  generally  placed  at  the  Duchess's ; 
but  they  were  usually  so  distinctly  and  obviously 
false  that  no  notice  was  taken  of  them,  nor  was 
any  attempt  made  to  check  their  promulgation. 

"  Exemplary  as  was  the  friendship  between 
this  enthusiastic  pair,  how  much  more  fortunate 
for  both  would  it  have  been  had  it  never  hap- 
pened 1  I  foresaw  the  results  long,  long  before 


CHAPTER    X  215 

they  took  place ;  but  the  Queen  was  not  to  be 
thwarted.  Fearful  she  might  attribute  my  anxiety 
for  her  general  safety  to  unworthy  personal  views, 
I  was  often  silent,  even  when  duty  bade  me 
speak.  I  was,  perhaps,  too  scrupulous  about 
seeming  officious  or  jealous  of  the  predilection 
shown  to  the  Duchess.  Experience  had  taught 
me  the  inutility  of  representing  consequences, 
and  I  had  no  wish  to  quarrel  with  the  Queen. 
Indeed,  there  was  a  degree  of  coldness  towards 
me  on  the  part  of  Her  Majesty  for  having  gone 
so  far  as  I  had  done.  It  was  not  till  after  the 
birth  of  the  Duke  of  Normandy,  her  third  child, 
in  March,  1785,  that  her  friendship  resumed  its 
primitive  warmth. 

"  As  the  children  grew,  Her  Majesty's  attach- 
ment for  their  governess  grew  with  them.  All  that 
has  been  said  of  Tasso's  Armida  was  nothing  to 
this  luxurious  temple  of  maternal  affection.  Never 
was  female  friendship  more  strongly  cemented,  or 
less  disturbed  by  the  nauseous  poison  of  envy, 
malice,  or  mean  jealousy.  The  Queen  was  in 
the  plenitude  of  every  earthly  enjoyment,  from 
being  able  to  see  and  contribute  to  the  education 


2l6  CHAPTER    X 

of  the  children  she  tenderly  loved,  unrestrained 
by  the  gothic  etiquette,  with  which  all  former 
royal  mothers  had  been  fettered,  but  which  the 
kind  indulgence  of  the  Duchess  de  Polignac  broke 
through,  as  unnatural  and  unworthy  of  the  en- 
lightened and  affectionate.  The  Duchess  was 
herself  an  attentive,  careful  mother.  She  felt  for 
the  Queen,  and  encouraged  her  maternal  sym- 
pathies, so  doubly  endeared  by  the  long,  long 
disappointment  which  had  preceded  their  gratifi- 
cation. The  sacrifice  of  all  the  cold  forms  of 
state  policy  by  the  new  governess,  and  the  free 
access  she  gave  the  royal  mother  to  her  children, 
so  unprecedented  in  the  Court  of  France,  rendered 
Maria  Antoinette  so  grateful  that  it  may  justly 
be  said  she  divided  her  heart  between  the  gover- 
ness and  the  governed.  Habit  soon  made  it 
necessary  for  her  existence  that  she  should  dedi- 
cate the  whole  of  her  time,  not  taken  up  in  public 
ceremonies  or  parties,  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
minds  of  her  children.  Conscious  of  her  own 
deficiency  in  this  respect,  she  determined  to  re- 
deem this  error  in  her  offspring.  The  love  of  the 
frivolous  amusements  of  society,  for  which  the 


CHAPTER   X  217 

want  of  higher  cultivation  left  room  in  her  mind, 
was  humoured  by  the  gaieties  of  the  Duchess  de 
Polignac's  assemblies ;  while  her  nobler  dispositions 
were  encouraged  by  the  privileges  of  the  favourite's 
station.  Thus,  all  her  inclinations  harmonising 
with  the  habits  and  position  of  her  friend,  Maria 
Antoinette  literally  passed  the  greatest  part  of 
some  years  in  company  with  the  Duchess  de 
Polignac;  either  amidst  the  glare  and  bustle  of 
public  recreation,  or  in  the  private  apartment  of 
the  governess  and  her  children,  increasing  as  much 
as  possible  the  kindness  of  the  one  for  the  benefit 
and  comfort  of  the  others.  The  attachment  of 
the  Duchess  to  the  royal  children  was  returned 
by  the  Queen's  affection  for  the  offspring  of  the 
Duchess.  So  much  was  Her  Majesty  interested 
in  favour  of  the  daughter  of  the  Duchess,  that, 
before  that  young  lady  was  fifteen  years  of  age, 
she  herself  contrived  and  accomplished  her  mar- 
riage with  the  Duke  de  Guiche,  then  maitre  de 
cere"monie  to  Her  Majesty,  and  whose  interests 
were  essentially  promoted  by  this  alliance.1 

I  The  Duke  de  Guiche,  since  Duke  de  Grammont,  has 
proved  how  much  he  merited  the  distinctions  he  received, 


2l8  CHAPTER    X 

"  The  great  cabals,  which  agitated  the  Court 
in  consequence  of  the  favour  shown  to  the 
Polignacs,  were  not  slow  in  declaring  themselves. 
The  Countess  de  Noailles  was  one  of  the  fore- 
most among  the  discontented.  Her  resignation, 
upon  the  appointment  of  a  superintendent,  was 
a  sufficient  evidence  of  her  real  feeling;  but  when 
she  now  saw  a  place  filled,  to  which  she  conceived 
her  family  had  a  claim,  her  displeasure  could  not 
be  silent,  and  her  dislike  to  the  Queen  began  to 
express  itself  without  reserve. 

"  Another  source  of  dissatisfaction  against  the 

in  consequence  of  the  attachment  between  the  Queen  and 
his  mother-in-law,  by  the  devotedness  with  which  he  followed 
the  fallen  fortunes  of  the  Bourbons  till  their  restoration, 
since  which  he  has  not  been  forgotten.  The  Duchess,  his 
wife,  who  at  her  marriage  was  beaming  with  all  the  beauties 
of  her  age,  and  adorned  by  art  and  nature  with  every  accom- 
plishment, though  she  came  into  notice  at  a  time  when 
the  Court  had  scarcely  recovered  itself  from  the  debauched 
morals  by  which  it  had  been  so  long  degraded  by  a  Pom- 
padour and  a  Du  Barry,  has  yet  preserved  her  character, 
by  the  strictness  of  her  conduct,  free  from  the  censorious 
criticisms  of  an  epoch  in  which  some  of  the  purest  could 
not  escape  unassailed.  I  saw  her  at  Pyrmont  in  1803 ;  and 
even  then,  though  the  mother  of  many  children,  she  looked 
as  young  and  beautiful  as  ever.  She  was  remarkably 
well  educated  and  accomplished,  a  profound  musician  on 
the  harp  and  pianoforte,  graceful  in  her  conversation,  and 
a  most  charming  dancer.  She  seemed  to  bear  the  vicissi- 


CHAPTER    X  2ig 

Queen  was  her  extreme  partiality  for  the  English. 
After  the  peace  of  Versailles,  in  1783,  the  English 
flocked  into  France,  and  I  believe  if  a  poodle  dog 
had  come  from  England  it  would  have  met  with 
a  good  reception  from  Her  Majesty.  This  was 
natural  enough.  The  American  war  had  been 
carried  on  entirely  against  her  wish;  though,  from 
the  influence  she  was  supposed  to  exercise  in  the 
cabinet,  it  was  presumed  to  have  been  managed 
entirely  by  herself.  This  odious  opinion  she  wished 
personally  to  destroy;  and  it  could  only  be  done 
by  the  distinction  with  which,  after  the  peace,  she 
treated  the  whole  English  nation.1 

tudes  of  fortune  with  a  philosophical  courage  and  resignation 
not  often  to  be  met  with  in  light-headed  French  women. 
She  was  amiable  in  her  manners,  easy  of  access,  always 
lively  and  cheerful,  and  enthusiastically  attached  to  the 
country  whence  she  was  then  excluded.  She  constantly 
accompanied  the  wife  of  the  late  Louis  XVIII.  during  her 
travels  in  Germany,  as  her  husband  the  Duke  did  His 
Majesty  during  his  residence  at  Mittau,  in  Courland,  &c. 
I  have  had  the  honour  of  seeing  the  Duke  twice  since  the 
Revolution ;  once,  on  my  coming  from  Russia,  at  General 
Binkingdroff's,  Governor  of  Mittau,  and  since,  in  Portland 
Place,  at  the  French  Ambassador's,  on  his  coming  to 
England  hi  the  name  of  his  sovereign,  to  congratulate  the 
King  of  England  on  his  accession  to  the  throne. 

i  The  daughter  of  the   Duchess  de  Polignac   (of  my 
meeting  with  whom    I   have    already  spoken    in    a    note), 


22O  CHAPTER    X 

"Several  of  the  English  nobility  were  on  a 
familiar  footing  at  the  parties  of  the  Duchess  de 
Polignac.  This  was  quite  enough  for  the  slan- 
derers. They  were  all  ranked,  and  that  publicly, 
as  lovers  of  Her  Majesty.  I  recollect  when  there 
were  no  less  than  five  different  private  commis- 
sioners out,  to  suppress  the  libels  that  were  in 

entering  with  me  upon  the  subject  of  France  and  of  old 
times,  observed  that  had  the  Queen  limited  her  attachment 
to  the  person  of  her  mother,  she  would  not  have  given  all 
the  annoyance  which  she  did,  to  the  nobility.  It  was  to 
these  partialities  to  the  English,  the  Duchess  de  Guiche 
Grammont  alluded.  I  do  not  know  the  lady's  name  dis- 
tinctly, but  I  am  certain  I  have  heard  the  beautiful  Lady 
Sarah  Bunbury  mentioned  by  the  Princess  Lamballe  as 
having  received  particular  attention  from  the  Queen ;  for  the 
Princess  had  heard  much  about  this  lady  and  "a  certain 
great  personage "  in  England ;  but,  on  discovering  her 
acquaintance  with  the  Duke  of  Lauzun,  Her  Majesty  with- 
drew from  the  intimacy,  though  not  soon  enough  to  prevent 
its  having  given  food  for  scandal.  "  You  must  remember," 
added  the  Duchess  de  Guiche  Grammont,  "  how  much  the 
Queen  was  censured  for  her  enthusiasm  about  Lady 
Spencer."  I  replied  that  I  did  remember  the  much-ado 
about  nothing  there  was  regarding  some  English  lady,  to 
whom  the  Queen  took  a  liking,  whose  name  I  could  not 
exactly  recall;  but  I  knew  well  she  studied  to  please  the 
English  in  general.  Of  this  Lady  Spencer  it  is  that  the 
Princess  speaks  in  one  of  the  following  pages  of  this 
chapter. 


CHAPTER    X  221 

circulation  over  all  France,  against  the  Queen  and 
Lord  Edward  Dillon,  the  Duke  of  Dorset,  Lord 
George  Conway,  Arthur  Dillon,  as  well  as  Count 
Fersen,  the  Duke  de  Lauzun,  and  the  Count 
d'Artois,  who  were  all  not  only  constant  fre- 
quenters of  Polignac's  but  visitors  of  Maria 
Antoinette. 

"  By  the  false  policy  of  Her  Majesty's  advisers, 
these  enemies  and  libellers,  instead  of  being  brought 
to  the  condign  punishment  their  infamy  deserved, 
were  privately  hushed  into  silence,  out  of  delicacy 
to  the  Queen's  feelings,  by  large  sums  of  money 
and  pensions,  which  encouraged  numbers  to  com- 
mit the  same  enormity  in  the  hope  of  obtaining 
the  same  recompense. 

"  But  these  were  mercenary  wretches,  from 
whom  no  better  could  have  been  expected.  A 
legitimate  mode  of  robbery  had  been  pressed  upon 
their  notice  by  the  Government  itself,  and  they 
thought  it  only  a  matter  of  fair  speculation  to 
make  the  best  of  it.  There  were  some  libellers, 
however,  of  a  higher  order,  in  comparison  with 
whose  motives  for  slander,  those  of  the  mere 
scandal-jobbers  were  white  as  the  driven  snow. 


222  CHAPTER    X 

Of  these,  one  of  the  worst  was  the  Duke  de 
Lauzun. 

"  The  first  motive  of  the  Queen's  strong  dislike 
to  the  Duke  de  Lauzun  sprang  from  Her  Majesty's 
attachment  to  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  whom  she 
really  loved.  She  was  greatly  displeased  at  the 
injury  inflicted  upon  her  valued  friend  by  Lauzun, 
in  estranging  the  affection  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans 
from  his  wife  by  introducing  him  to  depraved 
society.  Among  the  associates  to  which  this  con- 
nection led  the  Duke  of  Orleans  were  a  certain 
Madame  Duthee  and  Madame  Buffon. 

"  When  Lauzun,  after  having  been  expelled 
from  the  drawing-room  of  the  Queen  for  his  inso- 
lent presumption,1  meeting  with  coolness  at  the 
King's  levee,  sought  to  cover  his  disgrace  by 
appearing  at  the  assemblies  of  the  Duchess  de 
Polignac,  her  grace  was  too  sincerely  the  friend 
of  her  sovereign  and  benefactress  not  to  perceive 
the  drift  of  his  conduct.  She  consequently  signified 
to  the  self-sufficient  coxcomb  that  her  assemblies 
were  not  open  to  the  public.  Being  thus  shut 
out  from  Their  Majesties,  and,  as  a  natural  result, 

i   The  allusion  here  is  to  the  affair  of  the  heron  plume. 


CHAPTER   X  223 

excluded  from  the  most  brilliant  societies  of  Paris, 
Lauzun,  from  a  most  diabolical  spirit  of  revenge, 
joined  the  nefarious  party  which  had  succeeded  in 
poisoning  the  mind  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  and 
from  the  hordes  of  which,  like  the  burning  lava 
from  Etna,  issued  calumnies  which  swept  the  most 
virtuous  and  innocent  victims  that  ever  breathed, 
to  their  destruction  ! l 

"Among  the  Queen's  favourites,  and  those 
most  in  request  at  the  Polignac  parties,  was  the 
good  Lady  Spencer,  with  whom  I  became  most 
intimately  acquainted  when  I  first  went  to  England  ; 
and  from  whom,  as  well  as  from  her  two  charming 
daughters,  the  Duchess  of  Devonshire  and  Lady 
Duncannon,  since  Lady  Besborough,  I  received 
the  greatest  marks  of  cordial  hospitality.  In 

i  These  vicious  rivals  in  killing  characters  and 
blackening  virtue  with  imputations  of  every  vice,  never 
lost  sight  of  their  victims  till  fate,  cutting  the  thread  of 
their  own  execrable  existence,  terminated  a  long  career  of 
crime  too  horrible  to  dwell  upon !  The  whole  story  of  the 
Princess  Czartsorinski,  to  whom  I  have  the  honour  of  being 
allied,  related  by  Lauzun,  is  totally  destitute  of  any  shadow 
of  truth.  This  one  instance  will  show  how  much  credit  is 
due  to  the  rest  of  his  infamous  assertions  against  the  honour 
and  character  of  many  others  of  the  illustrious  persons 
whom  his  venomous  tongue  has  traduced. 


224  CHAPTER   X 

consequence,  when  her  ladyship  came  to  France, 
I  hastened  to  present  her  to  the  Queen.  Her 
Majesty,  taking  a  great  liking  to  the  amiable 
Englishwoman  and  wishing  to  profit  by  her  private 
conversations  and  society,  gave  orders  that  Lady 
Spencer  should  pass  to  her  private  closet  when- 
ever she  came  to  Versailles,  without  the  formal 
ceremony  of  waiting  in  the  ante-chamber  to  be 
announced. 

"  One  day,  Her  Majesty,  Lady  Spencer,  and 
myself  were  observing  the  difficulty  there  was  in 
acquiring  a  correct  pronunciation  of  the  English 
language,  when  Lady  Spencer  remarked  that  it 
only  required  a  little  attention. 

" '  I  beg  your  pardon,'  said  the  Queen, 
'  that's  not  all,  because  there  are  many  things 
you  do  not  call  by  their  proper  names,  as  they 
are  in  the  dictionary.' 

"  '  Pray  what  are  they,  please  your  Majesty  ? ' 

" '  Well,  I  will  give  you  an  instance.  For 
example,  les  culottes — what  do  you  call  them  ?  ' 

" '  Small  clothes,'  replied  her  ladyship. 

" '  Ma  foi  1  how  can  they  be  call  small 
clothes  for  one  large  man  ?  Now  I  do  look  in 


CHAPTER    X  225 

the  dictionary,  and  I  find,  pour  le  mot  culottes- 
breeches.' 

" '  Oh,  please  your  Majesty,  we  never  call 
them  by  that  name  in  England.1 

"  '  Voila  done,  j'ai  raison  ! ' 

"'We  say  inexpressibles  I ' 

" '  Ah,  c'est  mieux !  Dat  do  please  me  ver 
much  better.  II  y  a  du  bon  sens  la  dedans.  C'est 
une  autre  chose  ! ' 

"  In  the  midst  of  this  curious  dialogue,  in 
came  the  Duke  of  Dorset,  Lord  Edward  Dillon, 
Count  Fersen,  and  several  English  gentlemen, 
who,  as  they  were  going  to  the  King's  hunt,  were 
all  dressed  in  new  buckskin  breeches. 

" '  I  do  not  like,'  exclaimed  the  Queen  to 
them,  '  dem  yellow  irresistibles  1  * 

"  Lady  Spencer  nearly  fainted.  '  Vat  make  you 
so  frightful,  my  dear  lady  ?  '  said  the  Queen  to  her 
ladyship,  who  was  covering  her  face  with  her 
hands.  '  I  am  terrified  at  Your  Majesty's  mistake.' 
— '  Comment  ?  did  you  no  tell  me  just  now,  dat  in 
England  de  lady  call  de  culottes  irresistibles  ? ' — '  O 
mercy !  I  never  could  have  made  such  a  mistake, 

as  to  have  applied  to  that  part  of  the  male  dress 
VOL.  i  15 


226  CHAPTER    X 

such  a  word,  I  said,  please  Your  Majesty,  inex- 
pressibles. 

"On  this  the  gentlemen  all  laughed  most 
heartily. 

"'Veil,  veil,'  replied  the  Queen,  'do,  my  dear 
lady,  discompose  yourself.  I  vill  no  more  call  de 
breeches  irresistibles,  but  say  small  clothes,  if  even 
elles  sont  upon  a  giant ! ' 

"At  the  repetition  of  the  naughty  word  breeches, 
poor  Lady  Spencer's  English  delicacy  quite  over- 
came her.  Forgetting  where  she  was,  and  also 
the  company  she  was  in,  she  ran  from  the  room 
with  her  cross  stick  in  her  hand,  ready  to  lay  it 
on  the  shoulders  of  anyone  who  should  attempt 
to  obstruct  her  passage,  flew  into  her  carriage, 
and  drove  off  full  speed,  as  if  fearful  of  being  con- 
taminated :  all  to  the  no  small  amusement  of  the 
male  guests. 

"  Her  Majesty  and  I  laughed  till  the  very 
tears  ran  down  our  cheeks.  The  Duke  of  Dorset, 
to  keep  up  the  joke,  said  there  really  were  some 
counties  in  England  where  they  called  culottes 
irresistibles. 

"  Now  that  I  am  upon  the  subject  of  England, 


CHAPTER    X  227 

and  the  peace  of  1783,  which  brought  such  throngs 
of  English  over  to  France,  there  occurs  to  me  a 
circumstance,  relating  to  the  treaty  of  commerce 
signed  at  that  time,  which  exhibits  the  Count  de 
Vergennes  to  some  advantage;  and  with  that  let 
me  dismiss  the  topic. 

"  The  Count  de  Vergennes  was  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  ministers  of  France.  I  was 
intimately  acquainted  with  him.  His  general 
character  for  uprightness  prompted  his  sovereign 
to  govern  in  a  manner  congenial  to  his  own  good- 
ness of  heart,  which  was  certainly  most  for  the 
advantage  of  his  subjects.  Vergennes  cautioned 
Louis  against  the  hypocritical  adulations  of  his 
privileged  courtiers.  The  Count  had  been  schooled 
in  state  policy  by  the  great  Venetian  senator, 
Francis  Foscari,  the  subtlest  politician  of  his  age, 
whom  he  consulted  during  his  life  on  every  im- 
portant matter;  and  he  was  not  very  easily  to  be 
deceived. 

"  When  the  treaty  of  commerce  took  place, 
at  the  period  I  mention,  the  experienced  Vergennes 
foresaw — what  afterwards  really  happened — that 
France  would  be  inundated  with  British  manu- 

15—2 


228  CHAPTER    X 

factures ;  but  Calonne  obstinately  maintained  the 
contrary;  till  he  was  severely  reminded  of  the 
consequence  of  his  misguided  policy,  in  the  insults 
inflicted  on  him  by  enraged  mobs  of  thousands 
of  French  artificers,  whenever  he  appeared  in 
public.  But  though  the  mania  for  British  goods 
had  literally  caused  an  entire  stagnation  of  busi- 
ness in  the  French  manufacturing  towns,  and 
thrown  throngs  upon  the  pave"  for  want  of  employ- 
ment, yet  M.  de  Calonne  either  did  not  see,  or 
pretended  not  to  see,  the  errors  he  had  com- 
mitted. Being  informed  that  the  Count  de 
Vergennes  had  justly  attributed  the  public  dis- 
orders to  his  fallacious  policy,  M.  de  Calonne 
sent  a  friend  to  the  Count  demanding  satisfaction 
for  the  charge  of  having  caused  the  riots.  The 
Count  calmly  replied  that  he  was  too  much  of  a 
man  of  honour  to  take  so  great  an  advantage,  as 
to  avail  himself  of  the  opportunity  offered,  by 
killing  a  man  who  had  only  one  life  to  dispose 
of,  when  there  were  so  many  with  a  prior  claim, 
who  were  anxious  to  destroy  him  en  societe.  '  Bid 
M.  de  Calonne,'  continued  the  Count,  '  first  get 
out  of  that  scrape,  as  the  English  boxers  do 


CHAPTER    X  229 

when  their  eyes  are  closed  up  after  a  pitched 
battle.  He  has  been  playing  at  blind  man's  buff, 
but  the  poverty  to  which  he  has  reduced  so 
many  of  our  trades-people  has  torn  the  English 
bandage  from  his  eyes ! '  For  three  or  four  days 
the  Count  de  Vergennes  visited  publicly,  and 
showed  himself  everywhere  in  and  about  Paris ; 
but  M.  de  Calonne  was  so  well  convinced  of  the 
truth  of  the  old  fox's  satire  that  he  pocketed 
his  annoyance,  and  no  more  was  said  about  fighting. 
Indeed,  the  Count  de  Vergennes  gave  hints  of 
being  able  to  show  that  M.  de  Calonne  had  been 
bribed  into  the  treaty." 


The  Princess  Lamballe  has  alluded  in  a  former 
page  to  the  happiness  which  the  Queen  enjoyed 
during  the  visits  of  the  foreign  princes  to  the 
Court  of  France.  Her  papers  contain  a  few 
passages  upon  the  opinions  Her  Majesty  enter- 
tained of  the  royal  travellers ;  which,  although 
in  the  order  of  time  they  should  have  been  men- 
tioned before  the  peace  with  England,  yet,  not  to 
disturb  the  chain  of  the  narrative,  respecting  the 
connexion  with  the  Princess  Lamballe,  of  the  pre- 


230  CHAPTER    X 

vailing  libels,  and  the  partiality  shown  towards 
the  English,  I  have  reserved  them  for  the  con- 
clusion of  the  present  chapter.  The  timidity 
of  the  Queen  in  the  presence  of  the  illustrious 
strangers,  and  her  agitation  when  about  to  receive 
them,  have,  I  think,  been  already  spoken  of.  Upon 
the  subject  of  the  royal  travellers  themselves,  and 
other  personages,  the  Princess  expresses  herself 
thus. 


"  The  Queen  had  never  been  an  admirer  of 
Catharine  II.  Notwithstanding  her  studied  policy 
for  the  advancement  of  civilization  in  her  internal 
empire,  the  means  w!iich,  aided  by  the  Princess 
Dashkoff,  she  made  use  of  to  seat  herself  on  the 
imperial  throne  of  her  weak  husband,  Peter  the 
Third,  had  made  her  more  understood  than 
esteemed.  Yet  when  her  son,  the  Grand  Duke  of 
the  North,1  and  the  Grand  Duchess,  his  wife,  came 
to  France,  their  description  of  Catharine's  real 
character  so  shocked  the  maternal  sensibility  ol 

i  Afterwards  the  unhappy  Emperor  Paul. 


CHAPTER    X  231 

Maria  Antoinette  that  she  could  scarcely  hear  the 
name  of  the  Empress  without  shuddering.  The 
Grand  Duke  spoke  of  Catharine  without  the  least 
disguise.  He  said  he  travelled  merely  for  the  security 
of  his  life  from  his  mother,  who  had  surrounded 
him  with  creatures  that  were  his  sworn  enemies, 
her  own  spies  and  infamous  favourites,  to  whose 
caprices  they  were  utterly  subordinate.  He  was 
aware  that  the  dangerous  credulity  of  the  Empress 
might  be  every  hour  excited  by  these  wretches  to 
the  destruction  of  himself  and  his  Duchess,  and, 
therefore,  he  had  in  absence  sought  the  only 
refuge.  He  had  no  wish,  he  said,  ever  to  return 
to  his  native  country,  till  Heaven  should  check 
his  mother's  doubts  respecting  his  dutiful  filial 
affection  towards  her,  or  till  God  should  be  pleased 
to  take  her  into  his  sacred  keeping. 

"The  King  was  petrified  at  the  Duke's  des- 
cription of  his  situation,  and  the  Queen  could  not 
refrain  from  tears  when  the  Duchess,  his  wife, 
confirmed  all  her  husband  had  uttered  on  the 
subject.  The  Duchess  said  she  had  been  warned 
by  the  untimely  fate  of  the  Princess  d'Armstadt, 
her  predecessor,  the  first  wife  of  the  Grand  Duke, 


232  CHAPTER    X 

to  elude  similar  jealousy  and  suspicion  on  the  part 
of  her  mother-in-law,  by  seclusion  from  the  Court, 
in  a  country  residence  with  her  husband;  indeed, 
that  she  had  made  it  a  point  never  to  visit  Peters- 
burg, except  on  the  express  invitation  of  the 
Empress,  as  if  she  had  been  a  foreigner. 

"  In  this  system  the  Grand  Duchess  perse- 
vered, even  after  her  return  from  her  travels. 
When  she  became  pregnant,  and  drew  near  her 
accouchement,  the  Empress-mother  permitted  her 
to  come  to  Petersburg  for  that  purpose ;  but,  as 
soon  as  the  ceremony  required  by  the  etiquette  of 
the  Imperial  Court  on  those  occasions  ended,  the 
Duchess  immediately  returned  to  her  hermitage. 

"  This  Princess  was  remarkably  well-educa- 
ted ;  she  possessed  a  great  deal  of  good,  sound 
sense,  and  had  profited  by  the  instructions  of  some 
of  the  best  German  tutors  during  her  very  early 
years.  It  was  the  policy  of  her  father,  the  Duke 
of  Wirtemberg,  who  had  a  large  family,  to  educate 
his  children  as  quietists  in  matters  of  religion.  He 
foresaw  that  the  natural  charms  and  acquired 
abilities  of  his  daughters  would  one  day  call  them 
to  be  the  ornaments  of  the  most  distinguished 


CHAPTER    X  233 

Courts  in  Europe,  and  he  thought  it  prudent 
not  to  instil  early  prejudices  in  favour  of  peculiar 
forms  of  religion  which  might  afterwards  present 
an  obstacle  to  their  aggrandisement.1 

"  The  notorious  vices  of  the  King  of  Denmark, 
and  his  total  neglect  both  of  his  young  Queen, 
Carolina  Matilda,  and  of  the  interest  of  his  distant 
dominions,  while  in  Paris,  created  a  feeling  in  the 

i  The  first  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Wirtemberg  was 
the  first  wife  of  the  present  Emperor  of  Austria.  She 
embraced  the  Catholic  faith  and  died  very  young,  two 
days  before  the  Emperor  Joseph  the  Second,  at  Vienna. 
The  present  Empress  Dowager,  late  wife  to  Paul,  became  a 
proselyte  to  the  Greek  religion  on  her  arrival  at  Petersburg. 
The  son  of  the  Duke  of  Wirtemberg,  who  succeeded  him 
in  the  Dukedom,  was  a  Protestant,  it  being  his  interest  to 
profess  that  religion  for  the  security  of  his  inheritance. 
Prince  Ferdinand,  who  was  in  the  Austrian  service,  and 
a  long  time  Governor  of  Vienna,  was  a  Catholic,  as  he 
could  not  otherwise  have  enjoyed  that  office.  He  was  of 
a  very  superior  character  to  the  Duke,  his  brother.  Prince 
Louis,  who  held  a  commission  under  the  Prussian  Monarch, 
foUowed  the  religion  of  the  country  where  he  served,  and 
the  other  Princes,  who  were  in  the  employment  of  Sweden 
and  other  countries,  found  no  difficulty  in  conforming  them- 
selves to  the  religion  of  the  sovereigns  under  whom  they 
served.  None  of  them  having  any  established  forms  of 
worship,  they  naturally  embraced  that  which  conduced 
most  to  their  aggrandisement,  emolument,  or  dignity. 


234  CHAPTER  :: 

Queen's  mind  towards  that  house  which  was  not 
a  little  heightened  by  her  disgust  at  the  King  of 
Sweden,  when  he  visited  the  Court  of  Versailles. 
This  King,  though  much  more  crafty  than  his 
brother-in-law,  the  King  of  Denmark,  who  revelled 
openly  in  his  depravities,  was  not  less  vicious. 
The  deception  he  made  use  of  in  usurping  part 
of  the  rights  of  his  people,  combined  with  the 
worthlessness  and  duplicity  of  his  private  conduct, 
excited  a  strong  indignation  in  the  mind  of  Maria 
Antoinette,  of  which  she  was  scarcely  capable  of 
withholding  the  expression  in  his  presence. 

"  It  was  during  the  visit  of  the  Duke  and 
Duchess  of  the  North,  that  the  Cardinal  de  Rohan 
again  appeared  upon  the  scene.  For  eight  or  ten 
years  he  had  never  been  allowed  to  show  himself 
at  Court,  and  had  been  totally  shut  out  of  every 
society  where  the  Queen  visited.  On  the  arrival  oJ 
the  illustrious  travellers  at  Versailles,  the  Queen, 
at  her  own  expense,  gave  them  a  grand  fete  at 
her  private  palace,  in  the  gardens  of  Trianon, 
similar  to  the  one  given  by  the  Count  de  Provence1 

x  Afterwards  Louis  XVIII, 


CHAPTER    X  235 

to    Her    Majesty,    in    the    gardens    of    Brunoi. 

"  On  the  eve  of  the  fete,  the  Cardinal  waited 
upon  me  to  know  if  he  would  be  permitted  to 
appear  there  in  the  character  he  had  the  honour 
to  hold  at  Court.  I  replied  that  I  had  made  it 
a  rule  never  to  interfere  in  the  private  or  public 
amusements  of  the  Court,  and  that  his  Eminence 
must  be  the  best  judge  how  far  he  could  obtrude 
himself  upon  the  Queen's  private  parties,  to  which 
only  a  select  number  had  been  invited,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  confined  spot  where  the  fete  was 
to  be  given. 

"The  Cardinal  left  me,  not  much  satisfied  at 
his  reception.  Determined  to  follow,  as  usual,  his 
own  misguided  passion,  he  immediately  went  to 
Trianonj  disguised  with  a  large  cloak.  He  saw 
the  porter,  and  bribed  him.  He  only  wished,  he 
said,  to  be  placed  in  a  situation  whence  he  might 
see  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  the  North  without 
being  seen ;  but  no  sooner  did  he  perceive  the 
porter  engaged  at  some  distance  than  he  left  his 
cloak  at  the  lodge,  and  went  forward  in  his 
cardinal's  dress,  as  if  he  had  been  one  of  the 
invited  guests,  placing  himself  purposely  in  the 


236  CHAPTER    X 

Queen's  path  to  attract  her  attention  as  she  rode 
by  in  the  carriage  with  the  Duke  and  Duchess. 

"  The  Queen  was  shocked  and  thunderstruck 
at  seeing  him.  But,  great  as  was  her  annoyance, 
knowing  the  Cardinal  had  not  been  invited  and 
ought  not  to  have  been  there,  she  only  discharged 
the  porter  who  had  been  seduced  to  let  him  in; 
and  though  the  King,  on  being  made  acquainted 
with  his  treachery,  would  have  banished  his  Emi- 
nence a  hundred  leagues  from  the  capital,  yet  the 
Queen,  the  royal  aunts,  the  Princess  Elizabeth, 
and  myself,  not  to  make  the  affair  public,  and 
thereby  disgrace  the  high  order  of  his  ecclesias- 
tical dignity,  prevented  the  King  from  exercising 
his  authority  by  commanding  instant  exile. 

"  Indeed,  the  Queen  could  never  get  the  better 
of  her  fears  of  being  some  day,  or  in  some  way 
or  other,  betrayed  by  the  Cardinal,  for  having 
made  him  the  confidant  of  the  mortification  she 
would  have  suffered  if  the  projected  marriage  of 
Louis  XV.  and  her  sister  had  been  solemnized. 
On  this  account  she  uniformly  opposed  whatever 
harshness  the  King  at  any  time  intended  against 
the  Cardinal. 


CHAPTER    X  237 

"  Thus  was  this  wicked  prelate  left  at  leisure 
to  premeditate  the  horrid  plot  of  the  famous  neck- 
lace, the  ever  memorable  fraud,  which  so  fatally 
verified  the  presentiments  ol  the  Queen." 


CHAPTER    XI 

EDITOR'S  OBSERVATIONS,  AND  RECAPITULATION  OF  THE 
LEADING  PARTICULARS  OF  THE  DIAMOND  NECKLACE 
PLOT — JOURNAL  RESUMED — PRINCESS  LAMBALLE's  RE- 
MARKS ON  THAT  DARK  TRANSACTION — VERGENNES 
OPPOSES  JUDICIAL  INVESTIGATION  —  THE  QUEEN'S 
PARTY  PREVAIL  IN  BRINGING  THE  AFFAIR  BEFORE 
THE  COUNCIL  —  GROUNDLESSNESS  OF  THE  CHARGE 

AGAINST   MARIA  ANTOINETTE  CONFUSION  OF  ROHAN 

WHEN  CONFRONTED  WITH  THE  QUEEN — HE  PROCURES 
THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  ALL  THE  LETTERS  OF  THE 
OTHER  CONSPIRATORS  —  MEANS  RESORTED  TO  BY 
ROHAN'S  FRIENDS  TO  OBTAIN  HIS  ACQUITTAL  —  THE 
PRINCESS  CONDfi  EXPENDS  LARGE  SUMS  FOR  THAT 
PURPOSE  —  HER  CONFUSION  WHEN  THE  PROOFS  OF 
HER  BRIBERY  ARE  EXHIBITED  —  THE  KING'S  IMPAR- 
TIALITY—  MR.  SHERIDAN  DISCOVERS  THE  TREACHERY 
OF  M.  DE  CALONNE  —  CALONNE's  ABJECT  BEHAVIOUR, 
DISMISSAL,  AND  DISGRACE — NOTE  OF  THE  EDITOR 

THE  production  of  The  Marriage  of  Figaro, 
by  Beaumarchais,  upon  the  stage  at  Paris,  so 
replete  with  indecorous  and  slanderous  allusions 
to  the  royal  family,  had  spread  the  prejudices 
against  the  Queen  through  the  whole  kingdom 
and  every  rank  of  France,  j'ust  in  time  to  prepare 


CHAPTER    XI  239 

all  minds  for  the  deadly  blow  which  her  Majesty 
received  from  the  infamous  plot  of  the  diamond 
necklace.  From  this  year,  1785,  crimes  and  mis- 
fortunes trod  closely  on  each  others'  heels  in  the 
history  of  the  ill-starred  Queen ;  and  one  calamity 
only  disappeared  to  make  way  for  the  greater. 

The  destruction  of  the  papers,  which  would 
have  thoroughly  explained  the  transaction,  has  still 
left  all  its  essential  particulars  in  some  degree  of 
mystery;  and  the  interest  of  the  clergy,  who 
supported  one  of  their  own  body,  coupled  with 
the  arts  and  bribes  of  the  high  houses  connected 
with  the  plotting  prelate,  must,  of  course,  have 
discoloured  greatly  even  what  was  well  known. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  before  the  accession 
of  Louis  XVI.  the  Cardinal  de  Rohan  was  dis- 
graced in  consequence  of  his  intrigues — that  all 
his  ingenuity  was  afterwards  unremittingly  exerted 
to  obtain  renewed  favour — that  he  once  obtruded 
himself  upon  the  notice  of  the  Queen  in  the 
gardens  of  Trianon — and  that  his  conduct  in  so 
doing  excited  the  indignation  it  deserved,  but  was 
left  unpunished  owing  to  the  entreaties  of  the  best 
friends  of  the  Queen,  and  her  own  secret  horror 


240  CHAPTER    XI 

of  a  man  who  had  already  caused  her  so  much 
anguish. 

With  the  histories  of  the  fraud  everyone  is 
acquainted.  That  of  Madame  Campan,  as  far  as 
it  goes,  is  sufficiently  detailed  and  correct  to  spare 
me  the  necessity  of  expatiating  upon  this  theme  of 
villainy.  Yet,  to  assist  the  reader's  memory,  before 
returning  to  the  Journal  of  the  Princess  Lamballe, 
I  shall  recapitulate  the  leading  particulars. 

The  Cardinal  had  become  connected  with  a 
young,  but  artful  and  necessitous,  woman,  of  the 
name  of  Lamotte.  It  was  known  that  the  darling 
ambition  of  the  Cardinal  was  to  regain  the  favour 
of  the  Queen. 

The  necklace,  which  has  been  already  spoken 
of,  and  which  was  originally  destined  by  Louis  XV. 
for  Maria  Antoinette — had  her  hand,  by  divorce, 
been  transferred  to  him,  but  which,  though  after- 
wards intended  by  Louis  XV.  for  his  mistress, 
Du  Barry,  never  came  to  her  in  consequence  of 
his  death — this  fatal  necklace  was  still  in  existence, 
and  in  the  possession  of  the  crown  jewellers, 
Bcehmer  and  Bassange.  It  was  valued  at  eighteen 
hundred  thousand  livres.  The  jewellers  had  often 


CHAPTER   XI  241 

pressed  it  upon  the  Queen,  and  even  the  King 
himself  had  enforced  its  acceptance.  But  the 
Queen  dreaded  the  expense,  especially  at  an  epoch 
of  pecuniary  difficulty  in  the  state,  much  more  than 
she  coveted  the  jewels,  and  uniformly  and  reso- 
lutely declined  them,  although  they  had  been 
proposed  to  her  on  very  easy  terms  of  payment, 
as  she  really  did  not  like  ornaments. 

It  was  made  to  appear  at  the  parliamentary 
investigation  that  the  artful  Lamotte  had  impelled 
the  Cardinal  to  believe  that  she  herself  was  in 
communication  with  the  Queen  ;  that  she  had 
interested  Her  Majesty  in  favour  of  the  long 
slighted  Cardinal  ;  that  she  had  fabricated  a  cor- 
respondence, in  which  professions  of  penitence  on 
the  part  of  Rohan  were  answered  by  assurances  of 
forgiveness  from  the  Queen.  The  result  of  this 
correspondence  was  represented  to  be  the  engage- 
ment of  the  Cardinal  to  negociate  the  purchase  of 
the  necklace  secretly,  by  a  contract  for  periodical 
payments.  To  the  forgery  of  papers  was  added, 
it  was  declared,  the  substitution  of  the  Queen's 
person,  by  dressing  up  a  girl  of  the  Palais  Royal 

to    represent    Her    Majesty,    whom    she    in    some 
VOL.  i  1 6 


242  CHAPTER  XI 

degree  resembled,  in  a  secret  and  rapid  interview 
with  Rohan  in  a  dark  grove  of  the  gardens  of 
Versailles,  where  she  was  to  give  the  Cardinal  a 
rose,  in  token  of  her  royal  approbation,  and  then 
hastily  disappear.  The  importunity  of  the  jewel- 
lers, on  the  failure  of  the  stipulated  payment, 
disclosed  the  plot.  A  direct  appeal  of  theirs  to 
the  Queen,  to  save  them  from  ruin,  was  the 
immediate  source  of  detection.  The  Cardinal 
was  arrested,  and  all  the  parties  tried.  But 
the  Cardinal  was  acquitted,  and  Lamotte  and  a 
subordinate  agent  alone  punished.  The  quack 
Cagliostro  was  also  in  the  plot,  but  he,  too, 
escaped,  like  his  confederate  the  Cardinal,  who 
was  made  to  appear  as  the  dupe  of  Lamotte. 

The  Queen  never  got  over  the  effect  of  this 
affair.  Her  friends  well  knew  the  danger  of  severe 
measures  towards  one  capable  of  collecting  around 
him  strong  support  against  a  power  already  so 
much  weakened  by  faction  and  discord.  But  the 
indignation  of  conscious  innocence  insulted,  pre- 
vailed, though  to  its  ruin  1 

But  it  is  time  to  let  the  Princess  Lamballe 
give  her  own  impressions  upon  this  fatal  subject, 
and  in  her  own  words. 


CHAPTER   XI  243 

"  How  could  Messieurs  Bcehmer  and  Bassange 
presume  that  the  Queen  would  have  employed 
any  third  person  to  obtain-  an  article  of  such 
value,  without  enabling  them  to  produce  an  un- 
equivocal document  signed  by  her  own  hand  and 
countersigned  by  mine,  as  had  ever  been  the  rule 
during  my  superintendence  of  the  household,  when- 
ever anything  was  ordered  from  the  jewellers  by 
Her  Majesty  ?  Why  did  not  Messieurs  Bcehmer 
and  Bassange  wait  on  me,  when  they  saw  a 
document  unauthorised  by  me,  and  so  widely 
departing  from  the  established  forms  ?  I  must 
still  think,  as  I  have  often  said  to  the  King,  that 
Bcehmer  and  Bassange  wished  to  get  rid  of  this 
dead  weight  of  diamonds  in  any  way,  and  the 
Queen  having  unfortunately  been  led  by  me  to 
hush  up  many  foul  libels  against  her  reputation, 
as  I  then  thought  it  prudent  she  should  do, 
rather  than  compromise  her  character  with  wretches 
capable  of  doing  anything  to  injure  her,  these  jewel- 
lers, judging  from  this  erroneous  policy  of  the 
past,  imagined  that  in  this  instance,  also,  rather 
than  hazard  exposure,  Her  Majesty  would  pay 

them  for  the   necklace.      This  was  a  compromise 

1 6—  2 


244  CHAPTER    XI 

which  I  myself  resisted,  though  so  decidedly  ad- 
verse to  bringing  the  affair  before  the  nation  by 
a  public  trial.  Of  such  an  explosion,  I  foresaw 
the  consequences,  and  I  ardently  entreated  the 
King  and  Queen  to  take  other  measures.  But, 
though  till  now  so  hostile  to  severity  with  the 
Cardinal,  the  Queen  felt  herself  so  insulted  by  the 
proceeding  that  she  gave  up  every  other  consider- 
ation to  make  manifest  her  innocence. 

"The  wary  Count  de  Vergennes  did  all  he 
could  to  prevent  the  affair  from  getting  before  the 
public.  Against  the  opinion  of  the  King  and  the 
whole  council  of  ministers  he  opposed  judicial  pro- 
ceedings. Not  that  he  conceived  the  Cardinal 
altogether  guiltless;  but  he  foresaw  the  fatal  con- 
sequences that  must  result  to  Her  Majesty,  from 
bringing  to  trial  an  ecclesiastic  of  such  rank ;  for 
he  well  knew  that  the  host  of  the  higher  orders 
of  the  nobility,  to  whom  the  prelate  was  allied, 
would  naturally  strain  every  point  to  blacken  the 
character  of  the  King  and  Queen,  as  the  only 
means  of  exonerating  their  kinsman  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world  from  the  criminal  mystery  attached 
to  that  most  diabolical  intrigue  against  the  fair 


CHAPTER    XI  245 

fame  of  Maria  Antoinette.  The  Count  could  not 
bear  the  idea  of  the  Queen's  name  being  coupled 
with  those  of  the  vile  wretches,  Lamotte  and  the 
mountebank  Cagliostro,  and  therefore  wished  the 
King  to  chastise  the  Cardinal  by  a  partial  exile, 
which  might  have  been  removed  at  pleasure.  But 
the  Queen's  party  too  fatally  seconded  her  feelings, 
and  prevailed. 

"  I  sat  by  Her  Majesty's  bedside  the  whole  of 
the  night,  after  I  heard  what  had  been  determined 
against  the  Cardinal  by  the  council  of  ministers, 
to  beg  her  to  use  all  her  interest  with  the  King 
to  persuade  him  to  revoke  the  order  of  the  war- 
rant for  the  prelate's  arrest.  To  this  the  Queen 
replied,  '  Then  the  King,  the  ministers,  and  the 
people,  will  all  deem  me  guilty.' 

"  Her  Majesty's  remark  stopped  all  farther 
argument  upon  the  subject,  and  I  had  the  incon- 
solable grief  to  see  my  royal  mistress  rushing  upon 
dangers  which  I  had  no  power  of  preventing  her 
from  bringing  upon  herself. 

"  The  slanderers  who  had  imputed  such 
unbounded  influence  to  the  Queen  over  the  mind 
of  Louis  XVI.  should  have  been  consistent  enough 


246  CHAPTER    XI 

to  consider  that  with  but  a  twentieth  part  of  the 
tithe  of  her  imputed  power,  uncontrolled  as  she 
then  was  by  national  authority,  she  might,  without 
any  exposure  to  third  persons,  have  at  once  sent 
one  of  her  pages  to  the  garde-meuble  and  other 
royal  depositaries,  replete  with  hidden  treasures  of 
precious  stones  which  never  saw  the  light,  and 
thence  have  supplied  herself  with  more  than 
enough  to  form  ten  necklaces,  or  to  have  fully 
satisfied,  in  any  way  she  liked,  the  most  un- 
bounded passion  for  diamonds,  for  the  use  of 
which  she  would  never  have  been  called  to  ac- 
count. 

"  But  the  truth  is,  the  Queen  had  no  love  of 
ornaments.  A  proof  occurred  very  soon  after  I 
had  the  honour  to  be  nominated  Her  Majesty's 
superintendent.  On  the  day  of  the  great  fete  of 
the  Cordon  Bleu,  when  it  was  the  etiquette  to 
wear  diamonds  and  pearls,  the  Queen  had  omitted 
putting  them  on.  As  there  had  been  a  greater 
affluence  of  visitors  than  usual  that  morning,  and 
Her  Majesty's  'toilet  was  overthronged  by  Princes 
and  Princesses,  I  fancied  in  the  bustle  that  the 
omission  proceeded  from  forgetfulness.  Conse- 


CHAPTER   XI  247 

quently,  I  sent  the  tire  woman,  in  the  Queen's 
hearing,  to  order  the  jewels  to  be  brought  in. 
Smilingly,  Her  Majesty  replied,  '  No,  no  1  I  have 
not  forgotten  these  gaudy  things ;  but  I  do  not 
intend  that  the  lustre  of  my  eyes  should  be  out- 
shone by  the  one,  or  the  whiteness  of  my  teeth 
by  the  other;  however,  as  you  wish  art  to  eclipse 
nature,  I'll  wear  them  to  satisfy  you,  ma  belle 
dame  1  ' 

"  The  King  was  always  so  thoroughly  indulgent 
to  Her  Majesty  with  regard  both  to  her  public 
and  private  conduct  that  she  never  had  any  pretext 
for  those  reserves  which  sometimes  tempt  Queens 
as  well  as  the  wives  of  private  individuals  to 
commit  themselves  to  third  persons  for  articles  of 
high  value,  which  their  caprice  indiscreetly  impels 
them  to  procure  unknown  to  their  natural  guardians. 
Maria  Antoinette  had  no  reproach  or  censure  for 
plunging  into  expenses  beyond  her  means  to  appre- 
hend from  her  royal  husband.  On  the  contrary, 
the  King  himself  had  spontaneously  offered  to  pur- 
chase the  necklace  from  the  jewellers,  who  had 
urged  it  on  him  without  limiting  any  time  for 
payment.  It  was  the  intention  of  His  Majesty 


248  CHAPTER   XI 

to  have  liquidated  it  out  of  his  private  purse. 
But  Maria  Antoinette  declined  the  gift.  Twice 
in  my  presence  was  the  refusal  repeated  before 
Messieurs  Bcehmer  and  Bassange.  Who,  then,  can 
for  a  moment  presume,  after  all  these  circumstances, 
that  the  Queen  of  France,  with  a  nation's  wealth 
at  her  feet  and  thousands  of  individuals  offering 
her  millions,  which  she  never  accepted,  would 
have  so  far  degraded  herself  and  the  honour  of 
the  nation,  of  which  she  was  born  to  be  the 
ornament,  as  to  place  herself  gratuitously  in  the 
power  of  a  knot  of  wretches,  headed  by  a  man 
whose  general  bad  character  for  years  had  excluded 
him  from  Court  and  every  respectable  society,  and 
had  made  the  Queen  herself  mark  him  as  an  object 
of  the  utmost  aversion. 

"  If  these  circumstances  be  not  sufficient 
adequately  to  open  the  eyes  of  those  whom 
prejudice  has  blinded,  and  whose  ears  have  been 
deafened  against  truth,  by  the  clamours  of  sinister 
conspirators  against  the  monarchy  instead  of  the 
monarchs  ;  if  all  these  circumstances,  I  repeat, 
do  not  completely  acquit  the  Queen,  argument,  or 
even  ocular  demonstration  itself,  would  be  thrown 


CHAPTER    XI  249 

away.  Posterity  will  judge  impartially,  and  with 
impartial  judges  the  integrity  of  Maria  Antoinette 
needs  no  defender. 

"  When  the  natural  tendency  of  the  character 
of  Rohan  to  romantic  and  extraordinary  intrigue 
is  considered  in  connection  with  the  associates 
he  had  gathered  around  him,  the  plot  of  the 
necklace  ceases  to  be  a  source  of  wonder.  At 
the  time  the  Cardinal  was  most  at  a  loss  for 
means  to  meet  the  necessities  of  his  extravagance, 
and  to  obtain  some  means  of  access  to  the  Queen, 
the  mounteback  quack,  Cagliostro,  made  his  ap- 
pearance in  France.  His  fame  had  soon  flown 
from  Strasburg  to  Paris,  the  magnet  of  vices  and 
the  seat  of  criminals.  The  Prince-Cardinal,  known 
of  old  as  a  seeker  after  everything  of  notoriety, 
soon  became  the  intimate  of  one  who  flattered 
him  with  the  accomplishment  of  all  his  dreams 
in  the  realization  of  the  philosopher's  stone ;  con- 
verting puffs  and  French  paste  into  brilliants  ; 
Roman  pearls  into  Oriental  ones ;  and  turning 
earth  to  gold.  The  Cardinal,  always  in  want  of 
means  to  supply  the  insatiable  exigencies  of  his 
ungovernable  vices,  had  been  the  dupe  through  life 


250  CHAPTER    XI 

of  his  own  credulity — a  drowning  man  catching 
at  a  straw !  But  instead  of  making  gold  of  base 
materials,  Cagliostro's  brass  soon  relieved  his  blind 
adherent  of  all  his  sterling  metal.  As  many  needy 
persons  enlisted  under  the  banners  of  this  nostrum 
speculator,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the 
infamous  name  of  the  Countess  de  Lamotte,  and 
others  of  the  same  stamp,  should  have  thus  fallen 
into  an  association  of  the  Prince-Cardinal  ;  or 
that  her  libellous  stories  of  the  Queen  of  France 
should  have  found  eager  promulgators,  where  the 
real  diamonds  of  the  famous  necklace  being  taken 
apart  were  divided  piecemeal  among  a  horde  of 
the  most  depraved  sharpers  that  ever  existed  to 
make  human  nature  blush  at  its  own  degradation  ! l 

i  Cagliostro,  when  he  came  to  Rome,  for  I  know  not 
whether  there  had  been  any  previous  intimacy,  got  acquainted 
with  a  certain  Marchese  Vivaldi,  a  Roman,  whose  wife  had 
been  for  years  the  chere  amis  of  the  last  Venetian  ambas- 
sador, Peter  Pesaro,  a  noble  patrician,  and  who  has  ever 
since  his  embassy  at  Rome  been  his  constant  companion 
and  now  resides  with  him  in  England.  No  men  in  Europe 
are  more  constant  in  their  attachments  than  the  Venetians. 
Pesaro  is  the  sole  proprietor  of  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
and  magnificent  palaces  on  the  Grand  Canal  at  Venice, 
though  he  now  lives  in  the  outskirts  of  London,  in  a  small 
house,  not  so  large  as  one  of  the  offices  of  his  immense 


CHAPTER    XI  251 

"  Eight  or  ten  years  had  elapsed  from  the 
time  Her  Majesty  had  last  seen  the  Cardinal  to 
speak  to  him,  with  the  exception  of  the  casual 
glance  as  she  drove  by  when  he  furtively  intro- 
duced himself  into  the  garden  at  the  fete  at 

noble  palace,  where  his  agent  transacts  his  business.  The 
husband  of  Pesaro's  chere  amie,  the  Marchese  Vivaldi,  when 
Cagliostro  was  arrested  and  sent  to  the  Castello  Santo 
Angelo  at  Rome,  was  obliged  to  fly  his  country,  and  went  to 
Venice,  where  he  was  kept  secreted  and  maintained  by  the 
Marquis  Solari,  and  it  was  only  through  his  means  and  those 
of  the  Cardinal  Consalvi,  then  known  only  as  the  musical' 
Abbe  Consalvi,  from  his  great  attachment  to  the  immortal 
Cimarosa,  that  Vivaldi  was  ever  allowed  to  return  to  his 
native  country ;  but  Consalvi,  who  was  the  friend  of  Vivaldi, 
feeling  with  the  Marquis  Solari  much  interested  for  his 
situation,  they  together  contrived  to  convince  Pius  VI.  that 
he  was  more  to  be  pitied  than  blamed,  and  thus  obtained  his 
recall.  I  have  merely  given  this  note  as  a  further  warning 
to  be  drawn  from  the  connections  of  the  Cardinal  de  Rohan, 
to  deter  hunters  after  novelty  from  forming  ties  with  innova- 
tors and  impostors.  Cagliostro  was  ultimately  condemned, 
by  the  Roman  laws  under  Pope  Pius  VI.  for  life,  to  the 
galleys,  where  he  died. 

Proverbs  ought  to  be  respected ;  for  it  is  said  that  no 
phrase  becomes  a  proverb  until  after  a  century's  experience 
of  its  truth.  In  England,  it  is  proverbial  to  judge  of  men 
by  the  company  they  keep.  To  judge  of  the  Cardinal  de 
Rohan  from  his  most  intimate  friend,  the  galley-slave, 
Cagliostro,  what  shall  we  say  of  his  dignity  as  a  prince,  and 
his  purity  as  a  prelate? 


252  CHAPTER    XI 

Trianon,  till  he  was  brought  to  the  King's  cabinet 
when  arrested,  and  interrogated,  and  confronted 
with  her  face  to  face.  The  Prince  started  when 
he  saw  her.  The  comparison  of  her  features  with 
those  of  the  guilty  wretch  who  had  dared  to 
personate  her  in  the  garden  at  Versailles  com- 
pletely destroyed  his  self-possession.  Her  Majesty's 
person  was  become  fuller,  and  her  face  was  much 
longer  than  that  of  the  infamous  d'Oliva.  He 
could  neither  speak  nor  write  an  intelligible  reply 
to  the  questions  put  to  him.  All  he  could  utter, 
and  that  only  in  broken  accents,  was,  '  I'll  pay  ! 
I'll  pay  Messieurs  Bassange.' 

"  Had  he  not  speedily  recovered  himself,  all 
the  mystery  in  which  this  affair  has  been  left,  so 
injuriously  to  the  Queen,  might  have  been  prevented. 
His  papers  would  have  declared  the  history  of 
every  particular,  and  distinctly  established  the 
extent  of  his  crime  and  the  thorough  innocence 
of  Maria  Antoinette  of  any  connivance  at  the 
fraud,  or  any  knowledge  of  the  necklace.  But 
when  the  Cardinal  was  ordered  by  the  King's 
council  to  be  put  under  arrest,  his  self-possession 
returned.  He  was  given  in  charge  to  an  officer 


CHAPTER   XI  253 

totally  unacquainted  with  the  nature  of  the  accu- 
sation. Considering  only  the  character  of  his 
prisoner  as  one  of  the  highest  dignitaries  of  the 
Church,  from  ignorance  and  inexperience,  he  left 
the  Cardinal  an  opportunity  to  write  a  German 
note  to  his  factotum,  the  Abb£  Georgel.  In  this 
note  the  trusty  secretary  was  ordered  to  destroy 
all  the  letters  of  Cagliostro,  Madame  de  Lamotte, 
and  the  other  wretched  associates  of  the  infamous 
conspiracy ;  and  the  traitor  was  scarcely  in  custody 
when  every  evidence  of  his  treason  had  disappeared. 
The  note  to  Georgel  saved  his  master  from  expiating 
his  offence  at  the  Place  de  Greve. 

"  The  consequences  of  the  affair  would  have 
been  less  injurious,  however,  had  it  been  managed, 
even  as  it  stood,  with  better  judgment  and  temper. 
But  it  was  improperly  entrusted  to  the  Baron  de 
Br£teuil  and  the  Abb6  Vermond,  both  sworn  ene- 
mies of  the  Cardinal.  Their  main  object  was  the 
ruin  of  him  they  hated,  and  they  listened  only  to 
their  resentments.  They  never  weighed  the  danger 
of  publicly  prosecuting  an  individual  whose  con- 
demnation would  involve  the  first  families  in 
France,  for  he  was  allied  even  to  many  of  the 


254  CHAPTER   XI 

Princes  of  the  blood.  They  should  have  considered 
that  exalted  personages,  naturally  feeling  as  if  any 
crime  proved  against  their  kinsman  would  be  a 
stain  upon  themselves,  would  of  course  resort  to 
every  artifice  to  exonerate  the  accused.  To 
criminate  the  Queen  was  the  only  and  the  obvious 
method.  Few  are  those  nearest  the  Crown  who 
are  not  most  jealous  of  its  wearers !  Look  at  the 
long  civil  wars  of  York  and  Lancaster,  and  the 
short  reign  of  Richard.  The  downfall  of  Kings 
meets  less  resistance  than  that  of  their  inferiors. 

"  Still,  notwithstanding  all  the  deplorable 
blunders  committed  in  this  business  of  Rohan, 
justice  was  not  smothered  without  great  difficulty. 
His  acquittal  cost  the  families  of  Rohan  and 
Conde  more  than  a  million  of  livres,  distributed 
amorg  all  ranks  of  the  clergy ;  besides  immense 
sums  sent  to  the  Court  of  Rome  to  make  it 
invalidate  the  judgment  of  the  civil  authority  of 
France  upon  so  high  a  member  of  the  Church, 
and  to  induce  it  to  order  the  Cardinal's  being 
sent  to  Rome  by  way  of  screening  him  from  the 
prosecution,  under  the  plausible  pretext  of  more 
rigid  justice. 


CHAPTER   XI  255 

"Considerable  sums  in  money  and  jewels  were 
also  lavished  on  all  the  female  relatives  of  the 
peers  of  France,  who  were  destined  to  sit  on  the 
trial.  The  Abbe"  Georgel  bribed  the  press,  and 
extravagantly  paid  all  the  literary  pens  in  France 
to  produce  the  most  Jesuitical  and  sophisticated 
arguments  in  his  patron's  justification.  Though 
these  writers  dared  not  accuse  or  in  any  way 
criminate  the  Queen,  yet  the  respectful  doubts, 
with  which  their  defence  of  her  were  seasoned, 
did  infinitely  more  mischief  than  any  direct  attack, 
which  could  have  been  directly  answered. 

"  The  long  cherished,  but  till  now  smothered, 
resentment  of  the  Countess  de  Noailles,  the  scrupu- 
lous Madame  Etiquette,  burst  forth  on  this  occa- 
sion. Openly  joining  the  Cardinal's  party  against 
her  former  mistress  and  sovereign,  she  recruited 
and  armed  all  in  favour  of  her  prote"g6 ;  for  it  was 
by  her  intrigues  Rohan  had  been  nominated 
ambassador  to  Vienna.  Mesdames  de  Gue'me'ne'e 
and  Marsan,  rival  pretenders  to  favours  of  His 
Eminence,  were  equally  earnest  to  support  him 
against  the  Queen.  In  short,  there  was  scarcely 
a  family  of  distinction  in  France  that,  from  the 


256  CHAPTER   XI 

libels  which  then  inundated  the  kingdom,  did 
not  consider  the  King  as  having  infringed  on 
their  prerogatives  and  privileges  in  accusing  the 
Cardinal. 

"  Shortly  after  the  acquittal  of  this  most  artful, 
and,  in  the  present  instance,  certainly  too  fortunate 
prelate,  the  Princess  Conde  came  to  congratulate 
me  on  the  Queen's  innocence,  and  her  kinsman's 
liberation  from  the  Bastille. 

"  Without  the  slightest  observation,  I  pro- 
duced to  the  Princess  documents  in  proof  of  the 
immense  sums  she  alone  had  expended  in  bribing 
the  judges  and  other  persons,  to  save  her  relation, 
the  Cardinal,  by  criminating  Her  Majesty. 

"  The  Princess  Conde"  instantly  fell  into 
violent  hysterics,  and  was  carried  home  apparently 
lifeless. 

"  I  have  often  reproached  myself  for  having 
given  that  sudden  shock  and  poignant  anguish  to 
her  highness,  but  I  could  not  have  supposed  that 
one  who  came  so  barefacedly  to  impress  me  with 
the  Cardinal's  innocence,  could  have  been  less  firm 
in  refuting  her  own  guilt. 

"  I  never   mentioned  the  circumstance   to   the 


CHAPTER   XI  257 

Queen.       Had    I    done    so,    her    highness    would 
have   been   for   ever  excluded  from  the  Court  and 
the  royal  presence.     This  was  no  time  to  increase 
the  enemies  of  Her  Majesty,  and  the  affair  of  the 
trial  being  ended,  I  thought  it  best  to  prevent  any 
further  breach   from  a  discord  between  the  Court 
and  the  house  of  Conde.     However,  from  a  cold- 
ness subsisting  ever  after  between  the  Princess  and 
myself,  I   doubt  not  that  the  Queen  had  her  sus- 
picions that  all  was  not   as   it   should   be   in   that 
quarter.     Indeed,  though    Her   Majesty  never   con- 
fessed it,  I  think  she  herself  had  discovered  some- 
thing at  that  very  time  not  altogether  to  the  credit 
of  the  Princess  Conde",  for  she  ceased  going,  from 
that  period,  to  any  of  the  fetes  given  at  Chantilly. 
"  These    were    but    a    small    portion     of   the 
various  instruments  successfully  levelled  by  parties, 
even   the  least  suspected,  to   blacken   and   destroy 
the  fair  fame  of  Maria  Antoinette. 

"  The  document  which  so  justly  alarmed  the 
Princess  Conde  when  I  showed  it  to  her  came 
into  my  hands  in  the  following  manner  : 

"  Whenever   a  distressed   family,   or    any  par- 
ticular individual,  applied  to  me  for  relief,  or  was 
VOL.  i  17 


258  CHAPTER   XI 

otherwise  recommended  for  charitable  purposes,  I 
generally  sent  my  little  English  prote'ge'e  —  on 
whose  veracity,  well  knowing  the  goodness  of  her 
heart,  I  could  rely,1 — to  ascertain  whether  their 
claims  were  really  well  grounded. 

"  One  day,  I  received  an  earnest  memorial 
from  a  family,  desiring  to  make  some  private 
communications  of  peculiar  delicacy.  I  sent  my 
usual  ambassadress  to  inquire  into  its  import.  On 
making  her  mission  known,  she  found  no  difficulty 
in  ascertaining  the  object  of  the  application.  It 
proceeded  from  conscientious  distress  of  mind.  A 
relation  of  this  family  had  been  the  regular  con- 
fessor of  a  convent.  With  the  Lady  Abbess  of 
this  convent  and  her  trusty  nuns  the  Princess 
Cond6  had  deposited  considerable  sums  of  money, 
to  be  bestowed  in  creating  influence  in  favour  of 
the  Cardinal  de  Rohan.  The  confessor,  being  a 
man  of  some  consideration  among  the  clergy,  was 

i  Indeed,  I  never  deceived  the  Princess  on  these  occa- 
sions. She  was  so  generously  charitable  that  I  should  have 
conceived  it  a  crime.  When  I  could  get  no  satisfactory 
information,  I  said  I  could  not  trace  anything  undeserving 
her  charity,  and  left  her  highness  to  exercise  her  own 
discretion. 


CHAPTER    XI  259 

applied  to,  to  use  his  influence  with  the  needier 
members  of  the  Church  more  immediately  about 
him,  as  well  as  those  of  higher  station,  to  whom 
he  had  access,  in  furthering  the  purposes  of  the 
Princess  Cond6.  The  bribes  were  applied  as 
intended.  But,  at  the  near  approach  of  death,  the 
confessor  was  struck  with  remorse.  He  begged 
his  family,  without  mentioning  his  name,  to  send 
the  accounts  and  vouchers  of  the  sums  he  had  so 
distributed,  to  me,  as  a  proof  of  his  contrition, 
that  I  might  make  what  use  of  them  I  should 
think  proper.  The  papers  were  handed  to  my 
messenger,  who  pledged  her  word  of  honour  that 
I  would  certainly  adhere  to  the  dying  man's  last 
injunctions.  She  desired  they  might  be  sealed  up 
by  the  family,  and  by  them  directed  to  me.1  She 
then  hastened  back  to  our  place  of  rendezvous, 
where  I  waited  for  her,  and  where  she  consigned 
the  packet  into  my  own  hands. 

"  That  part  of  the  papers  which  compromised 
only  the  Princess  Cond£  was  shown  by  me  to  the 
Princess  on  the  occasion  I  have  mentioned.  It 

I  To  this  day,  I  neither  know  the  name  of  the  con- 
vent or  the  confessor. 

17—2 


CHAPTER    XI 


shocked  at  the  detection  of  having  suborned  the 
clergy  and  others  with  heavy  bribes  to  avert  the 
deserved  fate  of  the  Cardinal.  I  kept  this  part 
of  the  packet  secret  till  the  King's  two  aunts,  who 
had  also  been  warm  advocates  in  favour  of  the 
prelate,  left  Paris  for  Rome.  Then,  as  Pius  VI. 
had  interested  himself  as  head  of  the  Church  for 
the  honour  of  one  of  its  members,  I  gave  them 
these  very  papers  to  deliver  to  His  Holiness  for 
his  private  perusal.  I  was  desirous  of  enabling 
this  truly  charitable  and  Christian  head  of  our 
sacred  religion  to  judge  how  far  his  interference 
was  justified  by  facts.  I  am  thoroughly  convinced, 
that  had  he  been  sooner  furnished  with  these 
evidences,  instead  of  blaming  the  royal  proceeding 
he  would  have  urged  it  on,  nay,  would  himself 
have  been  the  first  to  advise  that  the  foul  con- 
spiracy should  be  dragged  into  open  day.1 

"The  Count  de  Vergennes  told   me  that  the 

I  But  these  proofs  came  too  late  to  redeem  the  cha- 
racter of  her,  whom  fate,  cruel  fate  1  had  written  in  the  book 
of  destinies  a  victim  in  this  world,  for  her  immortal  salva- 
tion in  the  next.  Never  saint  more  merited  to  be  ranked 
in  the  long  list  of  martyrs  than  Maria  Antoinette. 


CHAPTER    XI  26l 

King  displayed  the  greatest  impartiality  throughout 
the  whole  investigation  for  the  exculpation  of  the 
Queen,  and  made  good  his  title  on  this,  as  he 
did  on  every  occasion  where  his  own  unbiassed 
feelings  and  opinions  were  called  into  action,  to 
great  esteem  for  much  higher  qualities  than  the 
world  has  usually  given  him  credit  for. 

"  I  have  been  accused  of  having  opened  the 
prison  doors  of  the  culprit  Lamotte  for  her  escape; 
but  the  charge  is  false.  I  interested  myself,  as 
was  my  duty,  to  shield  the  Queen  from  public 
reproach  by  having  Lamotte  sent  to  a  place  of 
penitence ;  but  I  never  interfered,  except  to  lessen 
her  punishment,  after  the  judicial  proceedings.  The 
diamonds,  in  the  hands  of  her  vile  associates  at 
Paris,  procured  her  ample  means  to  escape.  I 
should  have  been  the  Queen's  greatest  enemy  had 
I  been  the  cause  of  giving  liberty  to  one  who 
acted,  and  might  naturally  have  been  expected  to 
act,  as  this  depraved  woman  did. 

"  Through  the  private  correspondence  which 
was  carried  on  between  this  country  and  England, 
after  I  had  left  it,  I  was  informed  that  M.  de 
Calonne,  whom  the  Queen  never  liked,  and  who 


202  CHAPTER   XI 

was  called  to  the  administration  against  her  will — 
which  he  knew,  and  consequently  became  one  of 
her  secret  enemies  in  the  affair  of  the  necklace — 
was  discovered  to  have  been  actively  employed 
against  Her  Majesty  in  the  work  published  in 
London  by  Lamotte. 

"  Mr.  Sheridan  was  the  gentleman  who  first 
gave  me  this  information. 

"  I  immediately  sent  a  trusty  person  by  the 
Queen's  orders  to  London,  to  buy  up  the  whole 
work.  It  was  too  late.  It  had  been  already  so 
widely  circulated  that  its  consequences  could  no 
longer  be  prevented.  I  was  lucky  enough,  how- 
ever, for  a  considerable  sum  to  get  a  copy  from  a 
person  intimate  with  the  author,  the  margin  of 
which,  in  the  hand-writing  of  M.  de  Calonne, 
actually  contained  numerous  additional  circum- 
stances which  were  to  have  been  published  in  a 
second  edition  1  This  publication  my  agent,  aided 
by  some  English  gentlemen,  arrived  in  time  to 
suppress. 

"The  copy  I  allude  to  was  brought  to  Paris 
and  shown  to  the  Queen.  She  instantly  flew  with 
it  in  her  hands  to  the  King's  cabinet. 


CHAPTER    XI  263 

"  '  Now,  sire/  exclaimed  she,  '  I  hope  you  will 
be  convinced  that  my  enemies  are  those  whom  I 
have  long  considered  as  the  most  pernicious  of 
Your  Majesty's  councillors  —  your  own  cabinet 
ministers  —  your  M.  de  Calonne  !  —  respecting 
whom  I  have  often  given  you  my  opinion, 
which,  unfortunately,  has  always  been  attributed 
to  mere  female  caprice,  or  as  having  been  biassed 
by  the  intrigues  of  Court  favourites  1  This,  I 
hope,  Your  Majesty  will  now  be  able  to  con- 
tradict 1  ' 

"  The  King  all  this  time  was  looking  over 
the  different  pages  containing  M.  de  Calonne's 
additions  on  their  margins.  On  recognising  the 
hand-writing,  His  Majesty  was  so  affected  by  this 
discovered  treachery  of  his  minister  and  the  agi- 
tation of  his  calumniated  Queen  that  he  could 
scarcely  articulate. 

"  '  Where,'  said  he,  '  did  you  procure  this  ?  ' 

" '  Through  the  means,  sire,  of  some  of  the 
worthy  members  of  that  nation  your  treacherous 
ministers  made  our  enemy — from  England  1  where 
your  unfortunate  Queen,  your  injured  wife,  is  com- 
passionated 1  ' 


264  CHAPTER   XI 

"  '  Who  got  it  for  you  ?  ' 

"  *  My  dearest,  my  real,  and  my  only  sincere 
friend,  the  Princess  Lamballe ! ' 

"  The  King  requested  I  should  be  sent  for. 
I  came.  As  may  be  imagined,  I  was  received 
with  the  warmest  sentiments  of  affection  by  both 
Their  Majesties.  I  then  laid  before  the  King  the 
letter  of  Mr.  Sheridan,  which  was,  in  substance, 
as  follows1: 

«' '  MADAM, — 

'"A  work  of  mine,  which  I  did  not  choose 
should  be  printed,  was  published  in  Dublin  and  trans- 
mitted to  be  sold  in  London.  As  soon  as  I  was  informed 
of  it,  and  had  procured  a  spurious  copy,  I  went  to  the 
bookseller  to  put  a  stop  to  its  circulation.  I  there  met 
with  a  copy  of  the  work  of  Madame  de  Lamotte,  which 
has  been  corrected  by  someone  at  Paris  and  sent  back 
to  the  bookseller  for  a  second  edition.  Though  not  in 
time  to  suppress  the  first  edition,  owing  to  its  rapid 
circulation,  I  have  had  interest  enough,  through  the 
means  of  the  bookseller  of  whom  I  speak,  to  remit 
you  the  copy  which  has  been  sent  as  the  basis  of  a 
new  one.  The  corrections,  I  am  told,  are  by  one  of 

i  The  letter  was,  of  course,  translated  in  the  Journal 
of  the  Princess  into  Italian ;  and  is  thence  here  restored 
into  English.  The  original  letter  probably  shared  the  fate 
of  other  papers  of  her  highness  in  the  revolutionary  riots. 


CHAPTER    XI  265 

the   King's   ministers.     If  true,   I    should   imagine   the 
writer  will  be  easily  traced. 

" « I  am  happy  that  it  has  been  in  my  power  to 
make  this  discovery,  and  I  hope  it  will  be  the  means 
of  putting  a  stop  tc  this  most  scandalous  publication. 
I  feel  myself  honoured  in  having  contributed  thus  far 
to  the  wishes  of  Her  Majesty,  which  I  hope  I  have 
fulfilled  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  your  highness. 

"  '  Should  anything  further  transpire  on  this  sub- 
ject, I  will  give  you  the  earliest  information. 

" '  I   remain,  madam,  with  profound  respect,  your 
highness'  most  devoted, 

very  humble  servant, 
RICHARD  BRINSLEY  SHERIDAN.'* 

"  M.  de  Calonne  immediately  received  the 
King's  mandate  to  resign  the  portfolio.  The  min- 
ister desired  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  give  his 
resignation  to  the  King  himself.  His  request  was 
granted.  The  Queen  was  present  at  the  interview. 

i  Madame  Campan  mentions  in  her  work  that  the 
Queen  had  informed  her  of  the  treachery  of  the  minister, 
but  did  not  enter  into  particulars,  nor  explain  the  mode  or 
source  of  its  detection.  Notwithstanding  the  parties  had 
bound  themselves  for  the  sums  they  received  not  to  reprint 
the  work,  a  second  edition  appeared  a  short  time  afterwards 
in  London.  This,  which  was  again  bought  up  by  the 
French  ambassador,  was  the  same  which  was  to  have  been 
burned  by  the  King's  command  at  the  china  manufactory 
at  Sevres. 


266  CHAPTER   XI 

The  work  in  question  was  produced.  On  behold- 
ing it,  the  minister  nearly  fainted.  The  King  got 
up  and  left  the  room.  The  Queen,  who  remained, 
told  M.  de  Calonne  that  His  Majesty  had  no 
further  occasion  for  his  services.  He  fell  on  his 
knees.  He  was  not  allowed  to  speak,  but  was 
desired  to  leave  Paris. 

"The  dismissal  and  disgrace  of  M.  de  Calonne 
were  scarcely  known  before  all  Paris  vociferated 
that  they  were  owing  to  the  intrigues  of  the 
favourite,  Polignac,  in  consequence  of  his  having 
refused  to  administer  to  her  own  superfluous 
extravagance  and  the  Queen's  repeated  demands 
on  the  treasury  to  satisfy  the  numerous  depen- 
dants of  the  Duchess. 

"  This,  however,  was  soon  officially  disproved 
by  the  exhibition  of  a  written  proposition  of 
Calonne's  to  the  Queen,  to  supply  an  additional 
hundred  thousand  francs  that  year  to  her  annual 
revenue,  which  Her  Majesty  refused.  As  for  the 
Duchess  de  Polignac,  so  far  from  having  caused 
the  disgrace,  she  was  not  even  aware  of  the 
circumstance  from  which  it  arose  ;  nor  did  the 
minister  himself  ever  know  how,  or  by  what  agency 
his  falsehood  was  so  thoroughly  unmasked." 


CHAPTER    XI  267 


NOTE. 

The  work  which  is  here  spoken  of  the  Queen 
kept,  as  a  proof  of  the  treachery  of  Calonne  towards 
her  and  his  sovereign,  till  the  storming  of  the  Tuileries 
on  the  loth  of  August,  1792,  when,  with  the  rest  of 
the  papers  and  property  plundered  on  that  memorable 
occasion,  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  ferocious  mob. 

M.  de  Calonne  soon  after  left  France  for  Italy. 
There  he  lived  for  some  time  in  the  palace  of  a  par- 
ticular friend  of  mine  and  the  Marquis,  my  husband, 
the  Countess  Francese  Tressino,  at  Vicenza. 

In  consequence  of  our  going  every  season  to  take 
the  mineral  waters  and  use  the  baths  at  Valdagno,  we 
had  often  occasion  to  be  in  company  with  M.  de  Calonne, 
both  at  Vicenza  and  Valdagno,  where  I  must  do  him 
the  justice  to  say  he  conducted  himself  with  the  greatest 
circumspection  in  speaking  of  the  Revolution. 

Though  he  evidently  avoided  the  topic  which  ter- 
minates this  chapter,  yet  one  day,  being  closely  pressed 
upon  the  subject,  he  said  forgeries  were  daily  com- 
mitted on  ministers,  and  were  most  particularly  so  in 
France  at  the  period  in  question ;  that  he  had  borne 
the  blame  of  various  imprudencies  neither  authorised 
nor  executed  by  him;  that  much  had  been  done  and 
supposed  to  have  been  done  with  his  sanction,  of 


268  CHAPTER   XI 

which  .he  had  not  the  slightest  knowledge.  This  he 
observed  generally,  without  specifying  any  express 
instance. 

He  was  then  asked  whether  he  did  not  consider 
himself  responsible  for  the  mischief  he  occasioned  by 
declaring  the  nation  in  a  state  of  bankruptcy.  He  said, 
"  No,  not  in  the  least.  There  was  no  other  way  of 
preventing  enormous  sums  from  being  daily  lavished, 
as  they  then  were,  on  herds  of  worthless  beings;  that 
the  Queen  had  sought  to  cultivate  a  state  of  private 
domestic  society,  but  that,  in  the  attempt,  she  only 
warmed  in  her  bosom  domestic  vipers,  who  fed  on  the 
vital  spirit  of  her  generosity."  He  mentioned  no  names. 

I  then  took  the  liberty  of  asking  him  his  opinion 
of  the  Princess  Lamballe. 

"  Oh,  madam  !  had  the  rest  of  Her  Majesty's 
numerous  attendants  possessed  the  tenth  part  of  that 
unfortunate  victim's  virtues,  Her  Majesty  would  never 
have  been  led  into  the  errors  which  all  France  must 
deplore ! 

"  I  shall  never  forget  her,"  continued  he,  "  the  day 
I  went  to  take  leave  of  her.  She  was  sitting  on  a  sofa 
when  I  entered.  On  seeing  me,  she  rose  immediately. 
Before  I  could  utter  a  syllable,  '  Sir,'  said  the  Princess, 
'  you  are  accused  of  being  the  Queen's  enemy.  Acquit 
yourself  of  the  foul  deed  imputed  to  you,  and  I  shall  be 
happy  to  serve  you  as  far  as  lies  in  my  power.  Till 
then,  I  must  decline  holding  any  communication  with 


CHAPTER   XI  269 

an  individual  thus  situated.  I  am  her  friend,  and 
cannot  receive  anyone  known  to  be  otherwise."' 

"  There  was  something,"  added  he,  "  so  sublime, 
so  dignified,  and  altogether  so  firm,  though  mild  in  her 
manner,  that  she  appeared  not  to  belong  to  a  race  of 
earthly  beings  1  " 

Seeing  the  tears  fall  from  his  eyes,  while  be  was 
thus  eulogising  her  whose  memory  I  shall  ever  venerate, 
I  almost  forgave  him  the  mischief  of  his  imprudence, 
which  led  to  her  untimely  end.  I  therefore  carefully 
avoided  wounding  his  few  gray  hairs  and  latter  days, 
and  left  him  still  untold  that  it  was  by  her,  of  whom 
he  thought  so  highly,  that  his  uncontradicted  treachery 
had  been  discovered. 


CHAPTER    XII 

JOURNAL    CONTINUED  ARCHBISHOP    OF      SENS     MADE 

MINISTER,  DISMISSED,  AND  HIS  EFFIGY  BURNED  — 
THE  QUEEN  IMPRUDENTLY  PATRONISES  HIS  RELATIONS 

MOBS — DANGEROUS     UNRESERVE     OF    THE    QUEEN 

APOLOGY  FOR  THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  SENS — THE  QUEEN 

FORCED    TO    TAKE    A    PART    IN    THE   GOVERNMENT 

MEETING     OF     THE    STATES    GENERAL ANONYMOUS 

LETTER  TO  THE  PRINCESS  LAMBALLE — SIGNIFICANT 
VISIT  OF  THE  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  —  DISASTROUS 
PROCESSION — BARNAVE  GIVES  HIS  OPINION  OF  PUBLIC 
AFFAIRS  TO  THE  PRINCESS  LAMBALLE,  WHO  COMMUNI- 
CATES WITH  THE  QUEEN — BRIBERIES  BY  ORLEANS  ON 
THE  DAY  OF  THE  PROCESSION — HE  FAINTS  IN  THE 
ASSEMBLY — NECKAR  SUSPECTED  OF  AN  UNDERSTANDING 

WITH    HIM IS    DISMISSED NO   COMMUNICATION   ON 

PUBLIC    BUSINESS    WITH    THE    QUEEN   BUT  THROUGH 

THE     PRINCESS     LAMBALLE  POLITICAL     INFLUENCE 

FALSELY  ASCRIBED  TO  THE  DUCHESS  DE  POLIGNAC — 
HER  UNPOPULARITY — DUKE  OF  HARCOURT  AND  THE 
FIRST  DAUPHIN — DEATH  OF  THE  FIRST  DAUPHIN — 
CAUSE  OF  HARCOURT'S  HARSH  TREATMENT  OF  POLIGNAC 

SECOND  INTERVIEW  OF  BARNAVE  WITH  THE  PRINCESS 

LAMBALLE — HE  SOLICITS  AN  AUDIENCE  OF  THE  QUEEN, 
WHICH  IS  REFUSED — DIALOGUE  BETWEEN  LAMBALLE 
AND  THE  PRINCE  DE  CONTI  —  REMARKS  ON  THE 
POLIGNACS — MARRIAGE  OF  FIGARO,  A  POLITICAL  SATIRE 

"  OF  the  many  instances  in  which  the  Queen's 
exertions  to  serve  those  whom  she  conceived  likely 


CHAPTER    XII  271 

to  benefit  and  relieve  the  nation,  turned  to  the 
injury,  not  only  of  herself,  but  those  whom  she 
patronised  and  the  cause  she  would  strengthen, 
one  of  the  most  unpopular  was  that  of  the  pro- 
motion of  Brienne,  Archbishop  of  Sens,  to  the 
ministry.  Her  interest  in  his  favour  was  entirely 
created  by  the  Abbe"  Vermond,  himself  too  super- 
ficial to  pronounce  upon  any  qualities,  and  especially 
such  as  were  requisite  for  so  high  a  station.  By 
many,  the  partiality  which  prompted  Vermond  to 
espouse  the  interests  of  the  Archbishop  was 
ascribed  to  the  amiable  sentiment  of  gratitude 
for  the  recommendation  of  that  dignitary,  by 
which  Vermond  himself  first  obtained  his  situation 
at  Court ;  but  there  were  others,  who  have  been 
deemed  deeper  in  the  secret,  who  impute  it  to 
the  less  honourable  source  of  self-interest,  to  the 
mere  spirit  of  ostentation,  to  the  hope  of  its 
enabling  him  to  bring  about  the  destruction  of 
the  Polignacs.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  Abbe"  well 
knew  that  a  minister  indebted  for  his  elevation 
solely  to  the  Queen  would  be  supported  by  her 
to  the  last. 

"  This,    unluckily,    proved    the    case.      Maria 


2/2  CHAPTER   XII 

Antoinette  persisted  in  upholding  every  act  of 
Brienne,  till  his  ignorance  and  unpardonable 
blunders  drew  down  the  general  indignation  of  the 
people  against  Her  Majesty  and  her  protege",  with 
whom  she  was  identified.  The  King  had  assented 
to  the  appointment  with  no  other  view  than  that 
of  not  being  utterly  isolated  and  to  show  a  respect 
for  his  consort's  choice.  But  the  incapable  minister 
was  presently  compelled  to  retire,  not  only  from 
office  but  from  Paris.  Never  was  a  minister  more 
detested  while  in  power,  or  a  people  more  enthusi- 
astically satisfied  at  his  going  out.  His  effigy  was 
burnt  in  every  town  of  France,  and  the  general 
illuminations  and  bonfires  in  the  capital  were 
accompanied  by  hooting  and  hissing  the  deposed 
statesman  to  the  barriers. 

"  The  Queen,  prompted  by  the  Abbe"  Vermond, 
even  after  Brienne's  dismission,  gave  him  tokens 
of  her  royal  munificence.  Her  Majesty  feared 
that  her  acting  otherwise  to  a  minister,  who  had 
been  honoured  by  her  confidence,  would  operate 
as  a  check  to  prevent  all  men  of  celebrity  from 
exposing  their  fortunes  to  so  ungracious  a  return 
for  lending  their  best  services  to  the  state,  which 


CHARLOTTl  "-\7:    B ERA  I'D    DE    LA 

HAVE,  MARQl'ISE  DE  MOXT1LSSOX 


ontemporarv  cngri> 


^. 


272  CHAPTER   XII 

Antoinette  persisted  in  upholding  every  act  of 
Brienne,  till  his  ignorance  and  unpardonable 
blunders  drew  down  the  general  indignation  of  the 
people  against  Her  Majesty  and  her  prote'ge',  with 
whom  she  was  identified.  The  King  had  assented 
to  the  appointment  with  no  other  view  than  that 
of  not  being  utterly  isolated  and  to  show  a  respect 
for  his  consort's  choice.  But  the  incapable  minister 
was  presently  compelled  to  retire,  not  only  from 
office  but  from  Paris.  Never  was  a  minister  more 


3N  k\\ 
burnt   in   c 

illuminations    •  e    capital    were 

accompl^^^o^^M^^  the  , 
statesman  to  the  barriers. 

"The  Queen,  prompted  by  the  Abb£  Vermond, 
even  after  Brienne's  dismission,  gave  him  tokens 
of  her  royal  munificence.  Her  Majesty  feared 
that  ht.  i  otherwise  to  a  minister,  who  had 

been   honoured   by   her   confidence,   would   operate 
as  a  check  to   pn  '.    men  of  celebrity  from 

exposing  their   forti  racious  a  return 

for  lending  their  best  I  the  state,  which 


CHAPTER   XII  273 

now  stood  in  need  of  the  most  skilful  pilots.  Such 
were  the  motives  assigned  by  Her  Majesty  herself 
to  me,  when  I  took  the  liberty  of  expostulating 
with  her  respecting  the  dangers  which  threatened 
herself  and  family,  from  this  continued  devoted- 
ness  to  a  minister  against  whom  the  nation  had 
pronounced  so  strongly.  I  could  not  but  applaud 
the  delicacy  of  the  feeling  upon  which  her  conduct 
had  been  grounded ;  nor  could  I  blame  her,  in  my 
heart,  for  the  uprightness  of  her  principle,  in 
showing  that  what  she  had  once  undertaken 
should  not  be  abandoned  through  female  caprice. 
I  told  Her  Majesty  that  the  system  upon  which 
she  acted  was  praiseworthy;  and  that  its  applica- 
tion in  the  present  instance  would  have  been  so 
had  the  Archbishop  possessed  as  much  talent  as 
he  lacked;  but  that  now  it  was  quite  requisite  for 
her  to  stop  the  public  clamour  by  renouncing  her 
protection  of  a  man  who  had  so  seriously  en- 
dangered the  public  tranquility  and  her  own 
reputation.1 

i  The  Princess  Lamballe  had  no  particularly  shining 
talents;  but  her  understanding  was  sound,  and  she  seldom 
gave  her  opinion  without  mature  reflection,  and  never  with- 
out being  called  upon,  or  when  she  distinctly  foresaw  the 

VOL.  i  1 8 


274  CHAPTER    XII 

"As  a  proof  how  far  my  caution  was  well 
founded,  there  was  an  immense  riotous  mob  raised 
about  this  time  against  the  Queen,  in  consequence 
of  her  having  appointed  the  dismissed  minister's 
niece,  Madame  de  Canisy,  to  a  place  at  Court, 
and  having  given  her  picture,  set  in  diamonds, 
to  the  Archbishop  himself. 

"The  Queen,  in  many  cases,  was  by  far  too 
communicative  to  some  of  her  household,  who 
immediately  divulged  all  they  gathered  from  her 
unreserve.  How  could  these  circumstances  have 
transpired  to  the  people  but  from  those  nearest 
the  person  of  Her  Majesty,  who,  knowing  the 
public  feeling  better  than  their  royal  mistress  could 
be  supposed  to  know  it,  did  their  own  feeling  little 
credit  by  the  mischievous  exposure.  The  people 
were  exasperated  beyond  all  conception.  The 
Abbe"  Vermond  placed  before  Her  Majesty  the 
consequences  of  her  communicativeness,  and  from 
this  time  forward  she  never  repeated  the  error. 
After  the  lesson  she  had  received,  none  of  her 

danger  which  must  accrue  from  its  being  withheld.  Would 
to  Heaven  the  Queen  had  had  more  advisers  like  her,  who 
felt  so  little  for  herself  and  so  much  for  the  welfare  of  her 
royal  mistress  1 


CHAPTER  XII  275 

female  attendants,  not  even  the  Duchess  de 
Polignac,  to  whom  she  would  have  confided  her 
very  existence,  could,  had  they  been  ever  so  much 
disposed,  have  drawn  anything  upon  public  matters 
from  her.  With  me,  as  her  superintendent  and 
entitled  by  my  situation  to  interrogate  and  give 
her  counsel,  she  was  not,  of  course,  under  the 
same  restriction.  To  his  other  representations  of 
the  consequences  of  the  Queen's  indiscreet  open- 
ness, the  Abbe"  Vermond  added  that,  being  obliged 
to  write  all  the  letters,  private  and  public,  he  often 
found  himself  greatly  embarrassed  by  affairs  having 
gone  forth  to  the  world  beforehand.  One  mis- 
fortune of  putting  this  seal  upon  the  lips  of  Her 
Majesty  was  that  it  placed  her  more  thoroughly  in 
the  Abbess  power.  She  was,  of  course,  obliged  to 
rely  implicitly  upon  him  concerning  many  points, 
which,  had  they  undergone  the  discussion  neces- 
sarily resulting  from  free  conversation,  would  have 
been  shown  to  her  under  very  different  aspects. 
A  man  with  a  better  heart,  less  Jesuitical,  and  not 
so  much  interested  as  Vermond  was  to  keep  his 
place,  would  have  been  a  safer  monitor. 

"  Though    the    Archbishop    of    Sens    was    so 

1 3— 2 


276  CHAPTER   XII 

much  hated  and  despised,  much  may  be  said  in 
apology  for  his  disasters.  His  unpopularity,  and 
the  Queen's  support  of  him  against  the  people, 
was  certainly  a  vital  blow  to  the  monarchy. 
There  is  no  doubt  of  his  having  been  a  poor 
substitute  for  the  great  men  who  had  so  gloriously 
beaten  the  political  paths  of  administration,  par- 
ticularly the  Count  de  Vergennes  and  Neckar. 
But  at  that  time,  when  France  was  threatened 
by  its  great  convulsion,  where  is  the  genius  which 
might  not  have  committed  itself  ?  And  here  is  a 
man  coming  to  rule  amidst  revolutionary  feelings, 
with  no  knowledge  whatever  of  revolutionary 
principles ;  a  pilot  steering  into  one  harbour  by 
the  chart  of  another.  I  am  by  no  means  a 
vindicator  of  the  Archbishop's  obstinacy  in  offer- 
ing himself  a  candidate  for  a  situation  entirely 
foreign  to  the  occupations,  habits,  and  studies 
of  his  whole  life  ;  but  his  intentions  may  have 
been  good  enough,  and  we  must  not  charge  the 
physician  with  murder  who  has  only  mistaken 
the  disease,  and,  though  wrong  in  his  judgment, 
has  been  zealous  and  conscientious ;  nor  must  we 
blame  the  comedians  for  the  faults  of  the  comedy. 


CHAPTER   XII  277 

The  errors  were  not  so  much  in  the  men  who  did 
not  succeed,  as  in  the  manners  of  the  times. 

"  The  part  which  the  Queen  was  now  openly 
compelled  to  bear  in  the  management  of  public 
affairs,  increased  the  public  feeling  against  her  from 
dislike  to  hatred.  Her  Majesty  was  unhappy,  not 
only  from  the  necessity  which  called  her  out  of 
the  sphere  to  which  she  thought  her  sex  ought 
to  be  confined,  but  from  the  divisions  which  existed 
in  the  royal  family  upon  points  in  which  their 
common  safety  required  a  common  scheme  of 
action.  Her  favourite  brother-in-law,  d'Artois, 
had  espoused  the  side  of  d'Orleans,  and  the 
popular  party  seemed  to  prevail  against  her,  even 
with  the  King. 

"  The  various  parliamentary  assemblies,  which 
had  swept  on  their  course,  under  various  denomi- 
nations, in  rapid  and  stormy  succession,  were  now 
followed  by  one  which,  like  Aaron's  rod,  was  to 
swallow  up  the  rest.  Its  approach  was  regarded 
by  the  Queen  with  ominous  reluctance.  At  length, 
however,  the  moment  for  the  meeting  of  the  States- 
General  at  Versailles  arrived.  Neckar  was  once 
more  in  favour,  and  a  sort  of  forlorn  hope  of 


278  CHAPTER  XII 

better  times  dawned  upon  the  perplexed  monarch, 
in  his  anticipations  from  this  assembly. 

"  The  night  before  the  procession  of  the  in- 
stalment of  the  States-General  was  to  take  place, 
it  being  my  duty  to  attend  Her  Majesty,  I  received 
an  anonymous  letter,  cautioning  me  not  to  be  seen 
that  day  by  her  side.  I  immediately  went  to  the 
King's  apartments  and  showed  him  the  letter. 
His  Majesty  humanely  enjoined  me  to  abide  by  its 
counsels.  I  told  him  I  hoped  he  would  for  once 
permit  me  to  exercise  my  own  discretion ;  for  if 
my  royal  sovereign  were  in  danger,  it  was  then 
that  her  attendants  should  be  most  eager  to  rally 
round  her,  in  order  to  watch  over  her  safety  and 
encourage  her  fortitude. 

"  While  we  were  thus  occupied,  the  Queen 
and  my  sister-in-law,  the  Duchess  of  Orleans, 
entered  the  King's  apartment,  to  settle  some  part 
of  the  etiquette  respecting  the  procession. 

"  '  I  wish,'  exclaimed  the  Duchess,  '  that  this 
procession  were  over;  or  that  it  were  never  to 
take  place ;  or  that  none  of  us  had  to  be  there ; 
or  else,  being  obliged,  that  we  had  all  passed,  and 
were  comfortably  at  home  again.' 


CHAPTER   XII  279 

" '  Its  taking  place,'  answered  the  Queen, 
'  never  had  my  sanction,  especially  at  Versailles. 
M.  Neckar  appears  to  be  in  its  favour,  and 
answers  for  its  success.  I  wish  he  may  not  be 
deceived;  but  I  much  fear  that  he  is  guided  more 
by  the  mistaken  hope  of  maintaining  his  own 
popularity  by  this  impolitic  meeting,  than  by  any 
conscientious  confidence  in  its  advantage  to  the 
King's  authority.' 

"  The  King,  having  in  his  hand  the  letter 
which  I  had  just  brought  him,  presented  it  to 
the  Queen. 

" '  This,  my  dear  Duchess,'  cried  the  Queen, 
'  comes  from  the  Palais  Royal  manufactory,  to 
poison  the  very  first  sentiments  of  delight  at  the 
union  expected  between  the  King  and  his  subjects, 
by  inuendos  of  the  danger  which  must  result  from 
my  being  present  at  it.  Look  at  the  insidiousness 
of  the  thing  1  Under  a  pretext  of  kindness,  cautions 
against  the  effect  of  their  attachment  are  given  to 
my  most  sincere  and  affectionate  attendants,  whose 
fidelity  none  dare  attack  openly.  I  am,  however, 
rejoiced  that  Lamballe  has  been  cautioned.' 

"  '  Against  what  ? '   replied  I. 


28O  CHAPTER   XII 

" '  Against  appearing  in  the  procession,' 
answered  the  Queen. 

"  '  It  is  only,'  I  exclaimed,  '  by  putting  me  in 
the  grave  they  can  ever  withdraw  me  from  Your 
Majesty.  While  I  have  life  and  Your  Majesty's 
sanction,  force  only  will  prevent  me  from  doing 
my  duty.  Fifty  thousand  daggers,  Madame,  were 
they  all  raised  against  me,  would  have  no  power 
to  shake  the  firmness  of  my  character  or  the 
earnestness  of  my  attachment.  I  pity  the  wretches 
who  have  so  little  penetration.  Victim  or  no 
victim,  nothing  shall  ever  induce  me  to  quit  Your 
Majesty.' 

"  The  Queen  and  the  Duchess,  both  in  tears, 
embraced  me.  After  the  Duchess  had  taken  her 
leave,  the  King  and  Queen  hinted  their  suspicions 
that  she  had  been  apprised  of  the  letter  and  had 
made  this  visit  expressly  to  observe  what  effect 
it  had  produced,  well  knowing  at  the  time  that 
some  attempt  was  meditated  by  the  hired  mob 
and  purchased  deputies  already  brought  over  to 
the  Orleans  faction.  Not  that  the  slightest  sus- 
picion of  collusion  could  ever  be  attached  to  the 
good  Duchess  of  Orleans  against  the  Queen.  The 


CHAPTER  XII  28l 

intentions  of  the  Duchess  were  known  to  be  as 
virtuous  and  pure  as  those  of  her  husband's  party 
were  criminal  and  mischievous.  But,  no  doubt, 
she  had  intimations  of  the  result  intended ;  and, 
unable  to  avert  the  storm  or  prevent  its  cause, 
had  been  instigated  by  her  strong  attachment  to 
me,  as  well  as  the  paternal  affection  her  father, 
the  Duke  de  Penthievre,  bore  me,  to  attempt  to 
lessen  the  exasperation  of  the  Palais  Royal  party 
and  the  Duke,  her  husband,  against  me,  by 
dissuading  me  from  running  any  risk  upon  the 
occasion. 

"The  next  day,  May  5,  1789,  at  the  very 
moment  when  all  the  resources  of  nature  and  art 
seemed  exhausted  to  render  the  Queen  a  paragon 
of  loveliness  beyond  anything  I  had  ever  before 
witnessed,  even  in  her;  when  every  impartial  eye 
was  eager  to  behold  and  feast  on  that  form  whose 
beauty  warmed  every  heart  in  her  favour;  at  that 
moment  a  horde  of  miscreants,  just  as  she  came 
within  sight  of  the  Assembly  thundered  in  her 
ears,  "Orleans  for  ever!"  three  or  four  times,1  while 

i  At  that  moment  her  loveliness  received  its  blight. 
From  the  instant  she  heard  that  cry,  her  severest  sorrows 
and  their  effects  began.  It  proved  her  death  cry. 


282  CHAPTER   XII 

she  and  the  King  were  left  to  pass  unheeded 
Even  the  warning  of  the  letter,  from  which  she 
had  reason  to  expect  some  commotions,  suggested 
to  her  imagination  nothing  like  this,  and  she  was 
dreadfully  shaken.  I  sprang  forward  to  support 
her.  The  King's  party,  prepared  for  the  attack, 
shouted  "  Vive  le  roil  vive  la  reine /"  As  I  turned, 
I  saw  some  of  the  members  lividly  pale,  as  if 
fearing  their  machinations  had  been  discovered ; 
but,  as  they  passed,  they  said  in  the  hearing  of 
Her  Majesty,  "  Remember,  you  are  the  daughter  of 
Maria  Theresa" — "  True"  answered  the  Queen. 
The  Duke  de  Biron,  Orleans,  La  Fayette,  Mirabeau, 
and  the  Mayor  of  Paris,  seeing  Her  Majesty's  emo- 
tion, came  up,  and  were  going  to  stop  the  pro- 
cession. All,  in  apparent  agitation,  cried  out 
"Halt!"  The  Queen,  sternly  looking  at  them, 
made  a  sign  with  her  head  to  proceed,  recovered 
herself,  and  moved  forward  in  the  train,  with  all 
the  dignity  and  self-possession  for  which  she  was 
so  eminently  distinguished. 

"  But  this  self-command  in  public  proved  nearly 
fatal  to  Her  Majesty  on  her  return  to  her  apart- 
ment. There  her  real  feelings  broke  forth,  and 


CHAPTER    XII  283 

their  violence  was  so  great  as  to  cause  the  brace- 
lets on  her  wrists  and  the  pearls  in  her  necklace 
to  burst  from  the  threads  and  settings,  before  her 
women  and  the  ladies  in  attendance  could  have 
time  to  take  them  off.  She  remained  many  hours 
in  a  most  alarming  state  of  strong  convulsions. 
Her  clothes  were  obliged  to  be  cut  from  her  body, 
to  give  her  ease ;  but  as  soon  as  she  was  un- 
dressed, and  tears  came  to  her  relief,  she  flew 
alternately  to  the  Princess  Elizabeth  and  to  myself; 
but  we  were  both  too  much  overwhelmed  to  give 
her  the  consolation  of  which  she  stood  so  much 
in  need. 

"Barnave  that  very  evening  came  to  my  pri- 
vate apartment,  and  tendered  his  services  to  the 
Queen.  He  told  me  he  wished  Her  Majesty  to 
be  convinced  that  he  was  a  Frenchman  ;  that  he 
only  desired  his  country  might  be  governed  by 
salutary  laws,  and  not  by  the  caprice  of  weak 
sovereigns,  or  a  vitiated,  corrupt,  ministry;  that 
the  clergy  and  nobility  ought  to  contribute  to  the 
wants  of  the  state  equally  with  every  other  class 
of  the  King's  subjects;  that  when  this  was  ac- 
complished, and  abuses  were  removed,  by  such 


284  CHAPTER   XII 

a  national  representation  as  would  enable  the 
minister,  Neckar,  to  accomplish  his  plans  for  the 
liquidation  of  the  national  debt,  I  might  assure 
Her  Majesty  that  both  the  King  and  herself 
would  find  themselves  happier  in  a  constitutional 
government  than  they  had  ever  yet  been ;  for 
such  a  government  would  set  them  free  from  all 
dependence  on  the  caprice  of  ministers,  and  lessen 
a  responsibility  of  which  they  now  experienced 
the  misery;  that  if  the  King  sincerely  entered 
into  the  spirit  of  regenerating  the  French  nation, 
he  would  find  among  the  present  representatives 
many  members  of  probity,  loyal  and  honourable 
in  their  intentions,  who  would  never  become  the 
destroyers  of  a  limited  legitimate  monarchy,  or 
the  corrupt  regicides  of  a  rump  parliament,  such 
as  brought  the  wayward  Charles  the  First,  of 
England,  to  the  fatal  block. 

"  I  attempted  to  relate  the  conversation  to 
the  Queen.  She  listened  with  the  greatest  atten- 
tion till  I  came  to  the  part  concerning  the  con- 
stitutional King,  when  Her  Majesty  lost  her 
patience,  and  prevented  me  from  proceeding.1 

i  This  and  other  conversations,  which  will  be  found  in 
subsequent  pages,  will  prove  that   Barnave's  sentiments  in 


CHAPTER   XII  285 

"The  expense  of  the  insulting  scene,  which 
had  so  overcome  Her  Majesty,  was  five  hundred 
thousand  francs !  This  sum  was  paid  by  the 
agents  of  the  Palais  Royal,  and  its  execution  en- 
trusted principally  to  Mirabeau,  Bailly,  the  Mayor 
of  Paris,  and  another  individual,  who  was  after- 
wards brought  over  to  the  Court  party. 

"  The  history  of  the  assembly  itself  on  the 
day  following,  the  6th  of  May,  is  too  well  known. 
The  sudden  perturbation  of  a  guilty  conscience, 
which  overcame  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  seemed  like 

favour  of  the  royal  family  long  preceded  the  affair  at 
Varennes,  the  beginning  of  which  Madame  Campan  assigns 
to  it.  Indeed  it  must  by  this  time  be  evident  to  the  reader, 
that  Madame  Campan,  though  very  correct  in  relating  all 
she  knew,  with  respect  to  the  history  of  Maria  Antoinette, 
was  not  in  possession  of  matters  foreign  to  her  occupation 
about  the  person  of  the  Queen,  and,  in  particular,  that  she 
could  communicate  little  concerning  those  important  in- 
trigues carried  on  respecting  the  different  deputies  of  the 
first  assembly,  till,  in  the  latter  days  of  the  Revolution,  when 
it  became  necessary,  from  the  pressure  of  events,  that  she 
should  be  made  a  sort  of  confidante,  in  order  to  prevent 
her  from  compromising  the  persons  of  the  Queen  and  the 
Princess  Lamballe  :  a  trust,  of  her  claim  to  which  her  un- 
doubted fidelity  was  an  ample  pledge.  Still,  however,  she 
was  often  absent  from  Court  at  moments  of  great  importance, 
and  was  obliged  to  take  her  information,  upon  much  which 
she  has  recorded,  from  hearsay,  which  has  led  her,  as  I 
have  before  stated,  into  frequent  mistakes. 


286  CHAPTER  XII 

an  awful  warning.  He  had  scarcely  commenced 
his  inflammatory  address  to  the  assembly,  when 
someone,  who  felt  incommoded  by  the  stifling 
heat  of  the  hall,  exclaimed,  "  Throw  open  the 
windows  !  "  The  conspirator  fancied  he  heard  in 
this  his  death  sentence.  He  fainted,  and  was  con- 
ducted home  in  the  greatest  agitation.  Madame 
de  Bouffon  was  at  the  Palais  Royal  when  the  Duke 
was  taken  thither.  The  Duchess  of  Orleans  was 
at  the  palace  of  the  Duke  de  Penthievre,  her 
father,  while  the  Duke  himself  was  at  the  Hotel 
Thoulouse  with  me,  where  he  was  to  dine,  and 
where  we  were  waiting  for  the  Duchess  to  come 
and  join  us,  by  appointment.  But  Madame  de 
Bouffon  was  so  alarmed  by  the  state  in  which  she 
saw  the  Duke  of  Orleans  that  she  instantly  left 
the  Palais  Royal,  and  despatched  his  valet  express 
to  bring  her  thither.  My  sister-in-law  sent  an 
excuse  to  me  for  not  coming  to  dinner,  and  an 
explanation  to  her  father  for  so  abruptly  leaving 
his  palace,  and  hastened  home  to  her  husband. 
It  was  some  days  before  he  recovered ;  and  his 
father-in-law,  his  wife,  and  myself  were  not  with- 
out hopes  that  he  would  see  in  this  an  omen  to 


CHAPTER    XII  287 

prevent    him    from    persisting    any    longer    in    his 
opposition  to  the  royal  family. 

"  The  effects  of  the  recall  of  the  popular 
minister,  Neckar,  did  not  satisfy  the  King.  Neckar 
soon  became  an  object  of  suspicion  to  the  Court 
party,  and  especially  to  His  Majesty  and  the 
Queen.  He  was  known  to  have  maintained  an 
understanding  with  Orleans.  The  miscarriage  of 
many  plans  and  the  misfortunes  which  succeeded 
were  the  result  of  this  connection,  though  it  was 
openly  disavowed.  The  first  suspicion  of  the 
coalition  arose  thus : 

"  When  the  Duke  had  his  bust  carried  about 
Paris,  after  his  unworthy  schemes  against  the  King 
had  been  discovered,  it  was  thrown  into  the  mire. 
Neckar  passing,  perhaps  by  mere  accident,  stopped 
his  carriage,  and  expressing  himself  with  some 
resentment  for  such  treatment  to  a  Prince  of  the 
blood  and  a  friend  of  the  people,  ordered  the  bust 
to  be  taken  to  the  Palais  Royal,  where  it  was 
washed,  crowned  with  laurel,  and  thence,  with 
Neckar's  own  bust,  carried  to  Versailles.  The 
King's  aunts,  coming  from  Belvue  as  the  proces- 
sion was  upon  the  road,  ordered  the  guards  to 


288  CHAPTER    XII 

send  the  men  away  who  bore  the  busts,  that  the 
King  and  Queen  might  not  be  insulted  with  the 
sight.  This  circumstance  caused  another  riot, 
which  was  attributed  to  Their  Majesties.  The 
dismission  of  the  minister  was  the  obvious  result. 
It  is  certain,  however,  that,  in  obeying  the  man- 
date of  exile,  Neckar  had  no  wish  to  exercise 
the  advantage  he  possessed  from  his  great  popu- 
larity. His  retirement  was  sudden  and  secret ; 
and,  although  it  was  mentioned  that  very  evening 
by  the  Baroness  de  Stael  to  the  Count  de  Chinon, 
so  little  bustle  was  made  about  his  withdrawing 
from  France,  that  it  was  even  stated  at  the  time 
to  have  been  utterly  unknown,  even  to  his  daughter. 
"  Neckar  himself  ascribed  his  dismission  to 
the  influence  of  the  Polignacs;  but  he  was  totally 
mistaken,  for  the  Duchess  de  Polignac  was  the 
last  person  to  have  had  any  influence  in  matters 
of  state,  whatever  might  have  been  the  case  with 
those  who  surrounded  her.  She  was  devoid  of 
ambition  or  capacity  to  give  her  weight ;  and  the 
Queen  was  not  so  pliant  in  points  of  high  import 
as  to  allow  herself  to  be  governed  or  overruled, 
unless  her  mind  was  thoroughly  convinced.  In 


CHAPTER  XII  289 

that  respect,  she  was  something  like  Catharine  II., 
who  always  distinguished  her  favourites  from  her 
ministers ;  but  in  the  present  case  she  had  no 
choice,  and  was  under  the  necessity  of  yielding 
to  the  boisterous  voice  of  a  faction. 

"  From  'this  epoch,  I  saw  all  the  persons  who 
had  any  wish  to  communicate  with  the  Queen  on 
matters  relative  to  the  public  business,  and  Her 
Majesty  was  generally  present  when  they  came, 
and  received  them  in  my  apartments.  The  Duchess 
de  Polignac  never,  to  my  knowledge,  entered  into 
any  of  these  state  questions ;  yet  there  was  no 
promotion  in  the  civil,  military,  or  ministerial  de- 
partment, which  she  has  not  been  charged  with 
having  influenced  the  Queen  to  make,  though 
there  were  few  of  them  who  were  not  nominated 
by  the  King  and  his  ministers,  even  unknown  to 
the  Queen  herself. 

"  The  prevailing  dissatisfaction  against  Her 
Majesty  and  the  favourite  Polignac  now  began 
to  take  so  many  forms,  and  produce  effects  so 
dreadful,  as  to  wring  her  own  feelings,  as  well 
as  those  of  her  royal  mistress,  with  the  most 

intense  anguish.     Let  me  mention  one  gross  and 
VOL.  i  19 


290  CHAPTER  XII 

barbarous  instance  in  proof  of  what  I  say 
"After  the  birth  of  the  Queen's  second  son, 
the  Duke  of  Normandy,  who  was  afterwards  Dau- 
phin, the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Harcourt,  out- 
rageously jealous  of  the  ascendancy  of  the  gover- 
ness of  the  Dauphin,  excited  the  young  prince's 
hatred  toward  Madame  de  Polignac  to  such  a 
pitch  that  he  would  take  nothing  from  her  hands, 
but  often,  young  as  he  was  at  the  time,  order  her 
out  of  the  apartment,  and  treat  her  remonstrances 
with  the  utmost  contempt.  The  Duchess  bitterly 
complained  of  the  Harcourts  to  the  Queen;  for 
she  really  sacrificed  the  whole  of  her  time  to  the 
care  and  attention  required  by  this  young  prince, 
and  she  did  so  from  sincere  attachment,  and  that 
he  might  not  be  irritated  in  his  declining  state  of 
health.  The  Queen  was  deeply  hurt  at  these  dis- 
sensions between  the  governor  and  governess.  Her 
Majesty  endeavoured  to  pacify  the  mind  of  the 
young  prince,  by  literally  making  herself  a  slave 
to  his  childish  caprices,  which  in  all  probability 
would  have  created  the  confidence  so  desired, 
when  a  most  cruel,  unnatural,  I  may  say  diabolical, 
report  prevailed,  to  alienate  the  child's  affections 


CHAPTER  XII  291 

even  from  his  mother,  in  making  him  believe 
that,  owing  to  his  deformity  and  growing  ugliness, 
she  had  transferred  all  her  tenderness  to  his  younger 
brother,  who  certainly  was  very  superior  in  health 
and  beauty  to  the  puny  Dauphin.  Making  a  pre- 
text of  this  calumny,  the  governor  of  the  heir- 
apparent  was  malicious  enough  to  prohibit  him 
from  eating  or  drinking  anything  but  what  first 
passed  through  the  hands  of  his  physicians ;  and 
so  strong  was  the  impression  made  by  this  inter- 
dict on  the  mind  of  the  young  Dauphin  that  he 
never  after  saw  the  Queen  but  with  the  greatest 
terror.  The  feelings  of  his  disconsolate  parent 
may  be  more  readily  conceived  than  described. 
So  may  the  mortification  of  his  governess,  the 
Duchess  de  Polignac,  herself  so  tender,  so  affec- 
tionate a  mother.  Fortunately  for  himself,  and 
happily  for  his  wretched  parents,  this  royal  youth, 
whose  life,  though  short,  had  been  so  full  of 
suffering,  died  at  Versailles  on  the  4th  of  June, 
1789,  and,  though  only  between  seven  and  eight 
years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  decease,  he  had 
given  proofs  of  intellectual  precocity,  which  would 

probably    have    made    continued    life,    amidst    the 

19 — 2 


2Q2  CHAPTER   XII 

scenes  of  wretchedness  which  succeeded,  anything 
to  him  but  a  blessing. 

"  The  cabals  of  the  Duke  of  Harcourt,  to 
which  I  have  just  adverted,  against  the  Duchess 
de  Polignac,  were  the  mere  result  of  foul  malice 
and  ambition.  Harcourt  wished  to  get  his  wife, 
who  was  the  sworn  enemy  of  Polignac,  created 
governess  to  the  Dauphin  instead  of  the  Queen's 
favourite.  Most  of  the  criminal  stories  against 
the  Duchess  de  Polignac,  and  which  did  equal 
injury  to  the  Queen,  were  fabricated  by  the 
Harcourts,  for  the  purpose  of  excluding  their 
rival  from  her  situation. 

"  Barnave,  meanwhile,  continued  faithful  to 
his  liberal  principles,  but  equally  faithful  to  his 
desire  of  bringing  Their  Majesties  over  to  those 
principles,  and  making  them  republican  sovereigns. 
He  lost  no  opportunity  of  availing  himself  of  my 
permission  for  him  to  call  whenever  he  chose  on 
public  business  ;  and  he  continued  to  urge  the 
same  points,  upon  which  he  had  before  been  so 
much  in  earnest,  although  with  no  better  effect. 
Both  the  King  and  Queen  looked  with  suspicion 
upon  Barnave,  and  with  still  more  suspicion  upon 
his  politics. 


CHAPTER   XII  293 

"  The  next  time  I  received  him,  '  Madam,' 
exclaimed  the  deputy  to  me,  '  since  our  last  inter- 
view I  have  pondered  well  on  the  situation  of  the 
King;  and,  as  an  honest  Frenchman,  attached  to 
my  lawful  sovereign,  and  anxious  for  his  future 
prosperous  reign,  I  am  decidedly  of  opinion  that 
his  own  safety,  as  well  as  the  dignity  of  the 
crown  of  France,  and  the  happiness  of  his  sub- 
jects, can  only  be  secured  by  his  giving  his  country 
a  constitution,  which  will  at  once  place  his  estab- 
lishment beyond  the  caprice  and  the  tyranny  of 
corrupt  administrations,  and  secure  hereafter  the 
first  monarchy  in  Europe  from  the  possibility  of 
sinking  under  weak  princes,  by  whom  the  royal 
splendour  of  France  has  too  often  been  debased 
into  the  mere  tool  of  vicious  and  mercenary 
noblesse,  and  sycophantic  courtiers.  A  King, 
protected  by  a  constitution,  can  do  no  wrong. 
He  is  unshackled  with  responsibility.  He  is 
empowered  with  the  comfort  of  exercising  the 
executive  authority  for  the  benefit  of  the  nation, 
while  all  the  harsher  duties,  and  all  the  censures 
they  create,  devolve  on  others.  It  is,  therefore, 
madam,  through  your  means,  and  the  well  known 
friendship  you  have  ever  evinced  for  the  royal 


294  CHAPTER  XII 

family,  and  the  general  welfare  of  the  French 
nation,  that  I  wish  to  obtain  a  private  audience 
of  Her  Majesty,  the  Queen,  in  order  to  induce 
her  to  exert  the  never-failing  ascendancy  she  has 
ever  possessed  over  the  mind  of  our  good  King, 
in  persuading  him  to  the  sacrifice  of  a  small 
proportion  of  his  power,  for  the  sake  of  preserving 
the  monarchy  to  his  heirs  ;  and  posterity  will 
record  the  virtues  of  a  prince  who  has  been 
magnanimous  enough,  of  his  own  free  will,  to 
resign  the  unlawful  part  of  his  prerogatives, 
usurped  by  his  predecessors,  for  the  blessing  and 
pleasure  of  giving  liberty  to  a  beloved  people, 
among  whom  both  the  King  and  Queen  will  find 
many  Hampdens  and  Sidneys,  but  very  few 
Cromwells.  Besides,  madam,  we  must  make  a 
merit  of  necessity.  The  times  are  pregnant  with 
events,  and  it  is  more  prudent  to  support  the 
palladium  of  the  ancient  monarchy  than  risk  its 
total  overthrow;  and  fall  it  must,  if  the  diseased 
excrescences,  of  which  the  people  complain,  and 
which  threaten  to  carry  death  into  the  very  heart 
of  the  tree,  be  not  lopped  away  in  time  by  the 
sovereign  himself.' 


CHAPTER  XII  295 

"  I  heard  the  deputy  with  the  greatest  atten- 
tion. I  promised  to  fulfil  his  commission.  The 
better  to  execute  my  task,  I  retired  the  moment 
he  left  me,  and  wrote  down  all  I  could  recollect 
of  his  discourse,  that  it  might  be  thoroughly  placed 
before  the  Queen  the  first  opportunity. 

"  When  I  communicated  the  conversation  to 
Her  Majesty,  she  listened  with  the  most  gracious 
condescension,  till  I  came  to  the  part  wherein 
Barnave  so  forcibly  impressed  the  necessity  of 
adopting  a  constitutional  monarchy.  Here,  as  she 
had  done  once  before,  when  I  repeated  some 
former  observations  of  Barnave  to  her,  Maria 
Antoinette  somewhat  lost  her  equanimity.  She 
rose  from  her  seat,  and  exclaimed : 

"  '  What  I  is  an  absolute  prince,  and  the  heredi- 
tary sovereign  of  the  ancient  monarchy  of  France, 
to  become  the  tool  of  a  plebeian  faction,  who  will, 
their  point  once  gained,  dethrone  him  for  his  im- 
becile complaisance  ?  Do  they  wish  to  imitate  the 
English  Revolution  of  1648,  and  reproduce  the 
sanguinary  times  of  the  unfortunate  and  weak 
Charles  the  First  ?  To  make  France  a  common- 
wealth 1  Well!  be  it  so!  But  before  I  advise  the 


296  CHAPTER  XII 

King  to  such  a  step,  or  give  my  consent  to  it,  they 
shall  bury  me  under  the  ruins  of  the  monarchy.' 

" '  But  what  answer,'  said  I,  '  does  Your 
Majesty  wish  me  to  return  to  the  deputy's  request 
for  a  private  audience  ? ' 

"  '  What  answer  ? '  exclaimed  the  Queen.  '  No 
answer  at  all  is  the  best  answer  to  such  a  pre- 
sumptuous proposition !  I  tremble  for  the  conse- 
quences of  the  impression  their  disloyal  manreuvres 
have  made  upon  the  minds  of  the  people,  and  I 
have  no  faith  whatever  in  their  proffered  services  to 
the  King.  However,  on  reflection,  it  may  be  ex- 
pedient to  temporise.  Continue  to  see  him.  Learn, 
if  possible,  how  far  he  may  be  trusted ;  but  do  not 
fix  any  time,  as  yet,  for  the  desired  audience. 
I  wish  to  apprise  the  King,  first,  of  his  interview 
with  you,  Princess.  This  conversation  does  not 
agree  with  what  he  and  Mirabeau  proposed  about 
the  King's  recovering  his  prerogatives.  Are  these 
the  prerogatives  with  which  he  flattered  the  King  ? 
Binding  him  hand  and  foot,  and  excluding  him 
from  every  privilege,  and  then  casting  him  a  help- 
less dependant  on  the  caprice  of  a  volatile  plebeian 
faction  1  The  French  nation  is  very  different  from 


CHAPTER   XII  297 

the  English.  The  first  rules  of  the  established 
ancient  order  of  the  government  broken  through, 
they  will  violate  twenty  others,  and  the  King  will 
be  sacrificed,  before  this  frivolous  people  again 
organise  themselves  with  any  sort  of  regular 
government.' 

"  Agreeably  to  Her  Majesty's  commands,  I 
continued  to  see  Barnave.  I  communicated  with 
him  by  letter,1  at  his  private  lodgings  at  Passy, 
and  at  Vitry;  but  it  was  long  before  the  Queen 
could  be  brought  to  consent  to  the  audience  he 
solicited. 

"  Indeed,  Her  Majesty  had  such  an  aversion 
to  all  who  had  declared  themselves  for  any  inno- 
vation upon  the  existing  power  of  the  monarchy, 
that  she  was  very  reluctant  to  give  audience  upon 
the  subject  to  any  person,  not  even  excepting  the 
Princes  of  the  blood.  The  Count  d'Artois  himself, 
leaning  as  he  did  to  the  popular  side,  had  ceased 
to  be  welcome.  Expressions  he  had  made  use  of, 
concerning  the  necessity  for  some  change,  had 
occasioned  the  coolness,  which  was  already  of 
considerable  standing. 

i  Of  these  letters  I  was  generally  the  bearer. 


298  CHAPTER   XII 

"  One  day  the  Prince  of  Conti  came  to  me, 
to  complain  of  the  Queen's  refusing  to  receive  him, 
because  he  had  expressed  himself  to  the  same 
effect  as  had  the  Count  d'Artois  on  the  subject 
of  the  Tiers  Etats.1 

I  I  recollect  that  day  perfectly.  I  was  copying  some 
letters  for  the  Princess  Lamballe,  when  the  Prince  of  Conti 
came  in.  The  Prince  lived  not  only  to  see,  but  to  feel  the 
errors  of  his  system.  He  attained  a  great  age.  He  out- 
lived the  glory  of  his  country.  Like  many  others,  the  first 
gleam  of  political  regeneration  led  him  into  a  system,  which 
drove  him  out  of  France,  to  implore  the  shelter  of  a  foreign 
asylum,  that  he  might  not  fall  a  victim  to  his  own  credulity. 
I  had  an  opportunity  of  witnessing  in  his  latter  days  his 
sincere  repentance;  and  to  this  it  is  fit  that  I  should  bear 
testimony.  There  were  no  bounds  to  the  execration  with 
which  he  expressed  himself  towards  the  murderers  of  those 
victims,  whose  death  he  lamented  with  a  bitterness,  in  which 
some  remorse  was  mingled,  from  the  impression  that  his 
own  early  errors  in  favour  of  the  Revolution  had  unintention- 
ally accelerated  their  untimely  end.  This  was  a  source  to 
him  of  deep  and  perpetual  self-reproach. 

There  was  an  eccentricity  in  the  appearance,  dress,  and 
manners  of  the  Prince  of  Conti,  which  well  deserves  re- 
cording. 

He  wore,  to  the  very  last — and  it  was  in  Barcelona,  so 
late  as  1803,  that  I  last  had  the  honour  of  conversing  with 
him — a  white  rich  stuff  dress  frock  coat,  of  the  cut  and 
fashion  of  Louis  XIV.  which,  being  without  any  collar,  had 
buttons  and  button-holes  from  the  neck  to  the  bottom  of  the 
skirt,  and  was  padded  and  stiffened  with  buckram.  The 
cuffs  were  very  large,  of  a  different  colour,  and  turned  up  to 


CHAPTER   XII  299 

"  '  And  does  your  highness,'  replied  I, 
'imagine  that  the  Queen  is  less  displeased  with 
the  conduct  of  the  Count  d'Artois  on  that  head, 

the  elbows.  The  whole  was  lined  with  white  satin,  which, 
from  its  being  very  much  moth-eaten,  appeared  as  if  it  had 
been  dotted  on  purpose  to  show  the  buckram  between  the 
satin  lining.  His  waistcoat  was  of  rich  green  striped  silk, 
bound  with  gold  lace ;  the  buttons  and  button-holes  of  gold  ; 
the  flaps  very  large,  and  completely  covering  his  small 
clothes  ;  which  happened  very  Apropos,  for  they  scarcely 
reached  his  knees,  over  which  he  wore  large  striped  silk 
stockings,  that  came  half-way  up  his  thighs.  His  shoes  had 
high  heels,  and  reached  half  up  his  legs ;  the  buckles  were 
small,  and  set  round  with  paste.  A  very  narrow  stiff  stock 
decorated  his  neck.  He  carried  a  hat,  with  a  white  feather 
on  the  inside,  under  his  arm.  His  ruffles  were  of  very  hand- 
some point  lace.  His  few  gray  hairs  were  gathered  in  a 
little  round  bag.  The  wig  alone  was  wanting  to  make  him 
a  thorough  picture  of  the  polished  age  of  the  founder  of 
Versailles  and  Marly. 

He  had  all  that  princely  politeness  of  manner  which  so 
eminently  distinguished  the  old  school  of  French  nobility, 
previous  to  the  Revolution.  He  was  the  thorough  gentleman, 
a  character  by  no  means  so  readily  to  be  met  with  in  these 
days  of  refinement  as  one  would  imagine.  He  never 
addressed  the  softer  sex  but  with  ease  and  elegance,  and 
admiration  of  their  persons. 

Could  Louis  XIV.  have  believed,  had  it  been  told  to 
him  when  he  placed  this  branch  of  the  Bourbons  on  the 
throne  of  Iberia,  that  it  would  one  day  refuse  to  give  shelter 
at  the  Court  of  Madrid  to  one  of  his  family,  for  fear  of 
offending  a  Corsican  usurper  1 


300  CHAPTER   XII 

than  she  is  with  you,  Prince  ?  I  can  assure  your 
highness,  that  at  this  moment  there  subsists  a 
very  great  degree  of  coolness  between  Her  Majesty 
and  her  royal  brother-in-law,  whom  she  loves  as 
if  he  were  her  own  brother.  Though  she  makes 
every  allowance  for  his  political  inexperience,  and 
well  knows  the  goodness  of  his  heart  and  the 
rectitude  of  his  intentions,  yet  policy  will  not 
permit  her  to  change  her  sentiments.' 

"  '  That  may  be,'  said  the  Prince,  '  but  while 
Her  Majesty  continues  to  honour  with  her  royal 
presence  the  Duchess  de  Polignac,  whose  friends, 
as  well  as  herself,  are  all  enthusiastically  mad  in 
favour  of  the  constitutional  system,  she  shows  an 
undue  partiality,  by  countenancing  one  branch  of 
the  party  and  not  the  other;  particularly  so,  as 
the  great  and  notorious  leader  of  the  opposition, 
which  the  Queen  frowns  upon,  is  the  sister-in- 
law  of  this  very  Duchess  de  Polignac,  and  the 
avowed  favourite  of  the  Count  d'Artois,  by  whom, 
and  the  councils  of  the  Palais  Royal,  he  is  sup- 
posed to  be  totally  governed  in  his  political 
career.' 

"  '  The  Queen,'  replied  I,  '  is  certainly  her  own 


CHAPTER  XII  301 

mistress.  She  sees,  I  believe,  many  persons  more 
from  habit  than  any  other  motive ;  to  which,  your 
highness  is  aware,  many  princes  often  make  sacri- 
fices. Your  highness  cannot  suppose  I  can  have 
the  temerity  to  control  Her  Majesty  in  the  selec- 
tion of  her  friends,  or  in  her  sentiments  respecting 
them.' 

"  '  No,'  exclaimed  the  Prince,  '  I  imagine  not. 
But  she  might  just  as  well  see  any  of  us ;  for  we 
are  no  more  enemies  of  the  crown  than  the  party 
she  is  cherishing  by  constantly  appearing  among 
them;  which,  according  to  her  avowed  maxims 
concerning  the  not  sanctioning  any  but  supporters 
of  the  absolute  monarchy,  is  in  direct  opposition 
to  her  own  sentiments. 

" '  Who,'  continued  his  highness,  '  caused  that 
infernal  comedy,  The  Marriage  of  Figaro,  to  be 
brought  out,  but  the  party  of  the  Duchess  de 
Polignac  P1  The  play  is  a  critique  on  the  whole 

i  Note  of  the  Princess  Lamballe. — The  Prince  of  Conti 
never  could  speak  of  Beaumarchais  but  with  the  greatest 
contempt.  There  was  something  personal  in  this  exaspera- 
tion. Beaumarchais  had  satirized  the  Prince.  The  Spanish 
Barber  was  founded  on  a  circumstance  which  happened  at 
a  country  house  between  Conti  and  a  young  lady,  during 


302  CHAPTER  XII 

royal  family,  from  the  drawing  up  of  the  curtain 
to  its  fall.  It  burlesques  the  ways  and  manners 
of  every  individual  connected  with  the  Court  of 
Versailles.  Not  a  scene  but  touches  some  of  their 
characters.  Are  not  the  Queen  herself  and  the 
Count  d'Artois  lampooned  and  caricatured  in  the 
garden  scenes,  and  the  most  slanderous  ridicule 
cast  upon  their  innocent  evening  walks  on  the 
terrace  ?  Does  not  Beaumarchais  plainly  show  in 
it,  to  every  impartial  eye,  the  means  which  the 
Countess  Diana  has  taken  publicly  to  demonstrate 
her  jealousy  of  the  Queen's  ascendancy  over  the 
Count  d'Artois  ?  Is  it  not  from  the  same  senti- 
ment that  she  has  roused  the  jealousy  of  the 
Countess  d'Artois  against  Her  Majesty  ?  ' 

"  '  All  these  circumstances,'  observed  I,  '  the 
King  prudently  foresaw  when  he  read  the  manu- 
script, and  caused  it  to  be  read  to  the  Queen,  to 
convince  her  of  the  nature  of  its  characters  and 

the  reign  of  Louis  XV.,  when  intrigues  of  every  kind  were 
practised  and  almost  sanctioned.  The  poet  has  exposed 
the  Prince  by  making  him  the  Doctor  Bartolo  of  his  play. 
The  affair  which  supplied  the  story  was  hushed  up  at 
Court,  and  the  Prince  was  only  punished  by  the  loss  of 
his  mistress,  who  became  the  wife  of  another. 


CHAPTER   XII  303 

the  dangerous  tendency  likely  to  arise  from  its 
performance.  Of  this  your  highness  is  aware.  It 
is  not  for  me  to  apprise  you  that,  to  avert  the 
excitement  inevitable  from  its  being  brought  upon 
the  stage,  and  under  a  thorough  conviction  of  the 
mischief  it  would  produce  in  turning  the  minds 
of  the  people  against  the  Queen,  His  Majesty 
solemnly  declared  that  the  comedy  should  not  be 
performed  in  Paris  ;  and  that  he  would  never 
sanction  its  being  brought  before  the  public  on 
any  stage  in  France.' 

"  '  Bah  1  bah  1  madam  1  '  exclaimed  Conti. 
'  The  Queen  has  acted  like  a  child  in  this  affair, 
as  in  many  others.  In  defiance  of  His  Majesty's 
determination,  did  not  the  Queen  herself,  through 
the  fatal  influence  of  her  favourite,  whose  party 
wearied  her  out  by  continued  importunities,  cause 
the  King  to  revoke  his  express  mandate  ?  And 
what  has  been  the  consequence  of  Her  Majesty's 
ungovernable  partiality  for  these  Polignacs  ?  ' 

" '  You  know,  Prince,'  said  I,  '  better  than 
I  do.' 

" '  The  proofs  of  its  bad  consequences,'  pur- 
sued his  highness,  '  are  more  strongly  verified 


304  CHAPTER   XII 

than  ever  by  your  own  withdrawing  from  the 
Queen's  parties  since  her  unreserved  acknowledg- 
ment of  her  partiality  (fatal  partiality !)  for  those 
who  will  be  her  ruin  ;  for  they  are  her  worst 
enemies.' 

" '  Pardon  me,  Prince,'  answered  I,  '  I  have 
not  withdrawn  myself  from  the  Queen,  but  from 
the  new  parties,  with  whose  politics  I  cannot 
identify  myself,  besides  some  exceptions  I  have 
taken  against  those  who  frequent  them.' 

"  '  Bah  !  bah  1  '  exclaimed  Conti,  '  your 
sagacity  has  got  the  better  of  your  curiosity.  All 
the  wit  and  humour  of  that  traitor  Beaumarchais 
never  seduced  you  to  cultivate  his  society,  as  all 
the  rest  of  the  Queen's  party  have  done.' 

"  '  I  never  knew  him  to  be  accused  of  treason.' 

"  '  Why,  what  do  you  call  a  fellow,  who  sent 
arms  to  the  Americans  before  the  war  was  de- 
clared, without  his  sovereign's  consent  ?  ' 

" '  In  that  affair,  I  consider  the  ministers  as 
criminal  as  himself;  for  the  Queen,  to  this  day, 
believes  that  Beaumarchais  was  sanctioned  by 
them ;  and,  you  know,  Her  Majesty  has  ever 
since  had  an  insuperable  dislike  to  both  De  Man- 


the  portrait  by 


"  ' 


304  CHAPTER   XII 

by    your    own    withdrawing    from    the 
ties   since   her  unreserved   acknowk 
t  of  her  partiality  (fatal   partiality  !)  for  those 
will    be    her    ruin  ;    for   they   are    her   worst 
enemies/ 

"  '  Pardon  me,  Prince,'  answered  I,  '  I  have 
not  withdrawn  myself  from  the  Queen,  but  from 
the  new  parties,  \vith  whose  politics  I  cannot 

identify    myself,    besides    some    exceptions    I    have 

.V\\4^WVK5VA  ^\\Lk\W&$V     . 
taken  against  those  wlto  ireqtfefttH&ftm. 

Bah  !      bah  1  '      exclaimed      Conti,      '  your 
J^  c^y^curiosit^ 

the  ^*l|£Ui*M4K-*(<»4)j  -^^inan 

•r  seduc-  his   society,  a:- 

tht  ne.' 

".n  to  be  accused  of  treason.' 
do  you  call  a  fellow,  who  sent 
0  the  Americans    before  the   war  was  de- 
clared, hib  sovereign's  consent  ?  ' 

"  '  In  or  the   mir. 

criminal  as  ;e   Queen,    to   t; 

believes  that  Beaumarchais  was  sanctioned  by 
them  ;  and,  you  know,  Her  Majesty  has  ever 
since  had  an  insuperable  dislike  to  both  De  Man- 


CHAPTER     XII  305 

repas  and  De  Vergennes.     But  I  have  nothing  to 
do  with  these  things.' 

"  *  Yes,  yes,  I  understand  you,  Princess.  Let 
her  romp  and  play  with  the  compate  vous,1  but  who 
will  compatire*  (make  allowance  for)  her  folly.  Bah  ! 
bah  !  bah  1  She  is  inconsistent,  Princess.  Not  that 
I  mean  by  this  to  insinuate  that  the  Duchess  is 
not  the  sincere  friend  and  well-wisher  of  the 
Queen  Her  immediate  existence,  her  interest, 
and  that  ol  her  family,  are  all  dependent  on  the 
royal  bounty.  But  can  the  Duchess  answer  for 
the  same  sincerity  towards  the  Queen,  with  respect 
to  her  innumerable  guests  ?  No !  Are  not  the 
sentiments  ol  the  Duchess's  sister-in-law,  the 
Countess  Diana,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  abso- 
lute monarchy  ?  Has  she  not  always  been  an 
enthusiastic  advocate  for  all  those  that  have  sup- 
ported the  American  war  ?  Who  was  it  that 
crowned,  at  a  public  assembly,  the  democratical 
straight  hairs  of  Dr.  Franklin?  Why  the  same 
Madame  Countess  Diana  !  Who  was  capa  turpa 

1  A  kind  of  game  of  forfeits,  introduced  for  the  diversion 
of  the  royal  children  and  those  of  the  Duchess  de  Polignac. 

2  This  play  upon  the  words  is  untranslateable. 
VOL.  I  20 


306  CHAPTER  XII 

in  applauding  the  men  who  were  forming  the 
American  constitution  at  Paris  ?  Madame 
Countess  Diana  !  Who  was  it,  in  like  manner, 
that  opposed  all  the  Queen's  arguments  against 
the  political  conduct  of  France  and  Spain,  relative 
to  the  war  with  England,  in  favour  of  the 
American  Independence  ?  The  Countess  Diana  ! 
Not  for  the  love  of  that  rising  nation,  or  for  the 
sacred  cause  of  liberty;  but  from  a  taste  for 
notoriety,  a  spirit  of  envy  and  jealousy,  an  appre- 
hension lest  the  personal  charms  ot  the  Queen 
might  rob  her  of  a  part  of  those  affections,  which 
she  herself  exclusively  hoped  to  alienate  from  that 
abortion,  the  Countess  d'Artois,  in  whose  service 
she  is  maid  ot  honour,  and  hand-maid  to  the 
Count.  My  dear  Princess,  these  are  facts  proved. 
Beaumarchais  has  delineated  them  all.  Why,  then, 
refuse  to  see  me  ?  Why  withdraw  her  former 
confidence  from  the  Count  d'Artois,  when  she 
lives  in  the  society  which  promulgates  anti- 
monarchical  principles  ?  These  are  sad  evidences 
ot  Her  Majesty's  inconsistency.  She  might  as 

well  see  the  Duke  of  Orleans' 

"  Here  my  feelings  overwhelmed  me.     I  could 


CHAPTER   XII  307 

contain  myself  no  longer.     The  tears  gushed  from 
my  eyes. 

" '  Oh,  Prince ! '  exclaimed  I,  in  a  bitter  agony 
of  grief — '  Oh  Prince  !  touch  not  that  fatal  string. 
For  how  many  years  has  he  not  caused  these 
briny  tears  of  mine  to  flow  from  my  burning  eyes ! 
The  scalding  drops  have  nearly  parched  up  the 
spring  of  life  1 '  " 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

THE    ROYAL   FAMILY   OF   FRANCE 


VOLUME   I 

PAGE 

LOUIS  xvii Fronts. 

BEDROOM   OF   MARIE-ANTOINETTE 96 

LOUIS   XVI l6o 

PRINCESSE   DE    LAMBALLE 2o8 

MARQUISE    DE    MONTESSON ;    DUCHESSE   D'ORLEANS 272 

BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN 304 


3<>9 


